Otherwise translated as Lord Almighty,
this is the first time that the Lord is described in this way in Scripture. The Hebrew word is used elsewhere to designate the armies of Israel (1 Samuel 17:45; cf. Deuteronomy 20:4), celestial bodies (Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 17:3; 2 Kings 17:16; 2 Kings 21:3–5; 2 Kings 23:4–5; Isaiah 40:26), or heavenly creatures such as angels (1 Kings 22:19; Psalm 103:21; Psalm 148:2). The emphasis then is on the fact that the Lord is the almighty King in both nature and history, supreme over all powers in heaven and on earth.1
3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD.