SAMUEL’S FINAL PUBLIC SPEECH

12 Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have carefully listened to everything you said to me and placed a king over you.g 2 Now you can see that the king is leading you. As for me, I’m old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have led you from my youth until now. 3 Here I am. Bring charges against me before the Lord and his anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken?h Who have I wronged or mistreated? Who gave me a bribe to overlook something?C,i I will return it to you.”

4 “You haven’t wronged us, you haven’t mistreated us, and you haven’t taken anything from anyone,” they responded.

5 He said to them, “The Lord is a witness against you, and his anointed is a witness today that you haven’t found anythingj in my hand.”k

“He is a witness,” they said.