1 Samuel 12

¹And Samuel said to all Israel, 'Look, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and I have installed a king over you.

²And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray-haired, and my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my youth until this day.

³Here I am — testify against me before the LORD and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I oppressed? Whom have I crushed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe to close my eyes to it? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.

⁴And they said, 'You have not oppressed us, and you have not crushed us, and you have not taken anything from the hand of any man.'

⁵And he said to them, 'The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have found nothing in my hand.' And they said, 'He is witness.'

⁶And Samuel said to the people, 'It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt.'

⁷And now, take your stand, so that I may enter into judgment with you before the LORD concerning all the righteous acts of the LORD that he has done with you and with your fathers.

⁸When Jacob came to Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

⁹But they forgot the LORD their God, and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

¹⁰And they cried out to the Lord and said, 'We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now, deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.'

¹¹And the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel, and he rescued you from the hand of your enemies on every side, so that you dwelt in security.

¹²And you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites had come against you, and you said to me, 'No, but a king shall reign over us' — when the Lord, the God of you all, was the king of you all.

¹³And now, behold the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for — and behold, the LORD has given you a king over you.

¹⁴If you will fear the Lord and serve him and listen to his voice and not rebel against the command of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will follow after the Lord, the God of you all.

¹⁵But if you do not obey the voice of the LORD, and you rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you and against the fathers of you all.

¹⁶Even now, stand firm and see this great thing that the Lord is doing before the eyes of you all.

¹⁷Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the LORD and he will send thunder and rain, so that you may know and see that the evil of you all that you have done in the eyes of the LORD is great, in asking yourselves a king.

¹⁸And Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

¹⁹And all the people said to Samuel, 'Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins an evil by asking for ourselves a king.'

²⁰And Samuel said to the people, 'Do not fear; you have done all this evil. Only do not turn aside from following the Lord, and serve the Lord with all the heart of you all.'

²¹And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty things.

²²For the Lord will not abandon his people, for the sake of his great name; for the Lord was pleased to make you his people.

²³Moreover, as for me, far be it from me to sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, but I will instruct you in the good and upright way.

²⁴Only fear the Lord and serve him in faithfulness with all your heart; for see what great things he has done with you.

²⁵But if you persist in doing evil, then both you and your king will be swept away.