1 Samuel 4:15
New International Version
who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see.

New Living Translation
who was ninety-eight years old and blind.

English Standard Version
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

Berean Standard Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see.

King James Bible
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.

New King James Version
Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see.

New American Standard Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed and he could not see.

NASB 1995
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

NASB 1977
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes had set so that he could not see.

Amplified Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; his eyes were dim so that he could not see.

Christian Standard Bible
At that time Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes didn’t move because he couldn’t see.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
At that time Eli was 98 years old, and his gaze was fixed because he couldn’t see.

American Standard Version
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And Eli was a son of seventy and eight years, and his eyes were dim, and he could not see

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Now Heli was ninety years old, and his eyes were fixed, and he saw not.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Now Heli was ninety and eight years old, and his eyes were dim, and he could not see.

English Revised Version
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, that he could not see.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
(Eli was 98 years old, and his eyesight had failed so that he couldn't see.)

Good News Translation
Eli was now ninety-eight years old and almost completely blind.)

International Standard Version
Now Eli was 98 years old, and his vision had failed.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were set, that he could not see.

Literal Standard Version
And Eli is a son of ninety-eight years, and his eyes have stood, and he has not been able to see.

Majority Standard Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see.

New American Bible
Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes would not focus. So he could not see.

NET Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes looked straight ahead; he was unable to see.

New Revised Standard Version
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.

New Heart English Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set, so that he could not see.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.

World English Bible
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old. His eyes were set, so that he could not see.

Young's Literal Translation
And Eli is a son of ninety and eight years, and his eyes have stood, and he hath not been able to see.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Death of Eli
14Eli heard the outcry and asked, “Why this commotion?” So the man hurried over and reported to Eli. 15Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see. 16“I have just come from the battle,” the man said to Eli. “I fled from there today.” “What happened, my son?” Eli asked.…

Cross References
1 Samuel 3:2
And at that time Eli, whose eyesight had grown so dim that he could not see, was lying in his room.

1 Samuel 4:14
Eli heard the outcry and asked, "Why this commotion?" So the man hurried over and reported to Eli.

1 Kings 14:4
Jeroboam's wife did as instructed; she arose and went to Shiloh and arrived at Ahijah's house. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.


Treasury of Scripture

Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.

ninety

1 Samuel 3:2
And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;

Psalm 90:10
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

and his eyes (See on

Genesis 27:1
And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.

Jump to Previous
Able Dim Eight Eli Eyes Ninety Ninety-Eight Stood
Jump to Next
Able Dim Eight Eli Eyes Ninety Ninety-Eight Stood
1 Samuel 4
1. The Israelites are overcome by the Philistines at Ebenezer
3. They fetch the ark unto the terror of the Philistines
10. They are smitten again, the ark taken, and Hophni and Phinehas are slain
12. Eli at the news, falling backward, breaks his neck
19. Phinehas's wife, discouraged in her travail with Ichabod, dies














(15) Ninety and eight years old.--The LXX. here reads "ninety" years, the Syriac Version "seventy eight." In the sacred text, where numbers are concerned we usually find these varieties of translation and interpretation. The present system of numerals was invented by the Arabs. The Hebrews use the letters of the alphabet to express numbers. Such a system was naturally fruitful in errors of transcription, and thus numbers, and dates especially, in the earlier books of the Old Testament are frequently confused and uncertain. Many of the difficulties which have given so much trouble to commentators have arisen out of the confusion of copyists substituting, through inadvertence, in Hebrew one letter for another. Instead of "his eyes were dim," the more accurate rendering would be his eyes were set--were stiff, so that he could no longer see. This, as Keil observes, is a description of the so-called black cataract (amaurosis), which not unfrequently occurs at a very great age from paralysis of the optic nerves.

Verse 15. - Eli was ninety and eight years old. Until the invention by the Arabs of the present system of numerals, all ancient nations had a most cumbrous system of expressing numbers. The Hebrew method was to attach a value to each of the letters of the alphabet, and then add them together, and thus the eighth and nineteenth letters would between them make up ninety-eight. Such a system led to constant mistakes in copying, and thus the numerals in the earlier parts of the Old Testament are beset with uncertainty. Here the Septuagint has ninety, and the Syriac seventy-eight. But as Eli was described already as "very old" in 1 Samuel 2:22, the Hebrew text is the most probable. Instead of dim the Hebrew has set, i.e. Eli was now absolutely blind, as the word expresses the motionless state of the eye when obscured by cataract. In 1 Samuel 3:2 a different word is used, rightly there translated "dim," as the disease is one which comes on gradually. In 1 Kings 14:4 we read that Ahijah was blind from the same cause, and the word is there correctly rendered "set."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Now Eli
וְעֵלִ֕י (wə·‘ê·lî)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 5941: Eli -- a priest at Shiloh

was ninety-eight
תִּשְׁעִ֥ים (tiš·‘îm)
Number - common plural
Strong's 8673: Ninety

years old,
בֶּן־ (ben-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1121: A son

and his gaze
וְעֵינָ֣יו (wə·‘ê·nāw)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - cdc | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5869: An eye, a fountain

was fixed
קָ֔מָה (qā·māh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 6965: To arise, stand up, stand

because he could not
וְלֹ֥א (wə·lō)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

see.
לִרְאֽוֹת׃ (lir·’ō·wṯ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 7200: To see


Links
1 Samuel 4:15 NIV
1 Samuel 4:15 NLT
1 Samuel 4:15 ESV
1 Samuel 4:15 NASB
1 Samuel 4:15 KJV

1 Samuel 4:15 BibleApps.com
1 Samuel 4:15 Biblia Paralela
1 Samuel 4:15 Chinese Bible
1 Samuel 4:15 French Bible
1 Samuel 4:15 Catholic Bible

OT History: 1 Samuel 4:15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 4:14
Top of Page
Top of Page