1 Samuel 12

Samuel’s Farewell Speech

12Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened^m to everything you said to me and have set a kingⁿ over you. ²Now you have a king as your leader.^o As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons^p are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. ³Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed.^q Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey^r have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe^s to make me shut my eyes? If I have done^t any of these things, I will make it right.”^u

⁴“You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”

⁵Samuel said to them, “The Lord is witness^v against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything^w in my hand.^x”

“He is witness,” they said.

⁶Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought^y your ancestors up out of Egypt. ⁷Now then, stand^z here, because I am going to confront^a you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts^b performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.

⁸“After Jacob^c entered Egypt, they cried^d to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent^e Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

⁹“But they forgot^f the Lord their God; so he sold them^g into the hand of Sisera,^h the commander of the army of Hazor,ⁱ and into the hands of the Philistines^j and the king of Moab,^k who fought against them. ¹⁰They cried^l out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken^m the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths.ⁿ But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.’ ¹¹Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal,^ao Barak,^bp Jephthah^q and Samuel,^cr and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.

¹²“But when you saw that Nahash^s king^t of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule^u over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king. ¹³Now here is the king^v you have chosen, the one you asked^w for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. ¹⁴If you fear^x the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel^y against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good! ¹⁵But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against^z his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.

¹⁶“Now then, stand still^a and see^b this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! ¹⁷Is it not wheat harvest^c now? I will call^d on the Lord to send thunder^e and rain.^f And you will realize what an evil^g thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.”

¹⁸Then Samuel called on the Lord,^h and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in aweⁱ of the Lord and of Samuel.

¹⁹The people all said to Samuel, “Pray^j to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die,^k for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”

²⁰“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil;^l yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹Do not turn away after useless^m idols.ⁿ They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. ²²For the sake^o of his great name^p the Lord will not reject^q his people, because the Lord was pleased to make^r you his own. ²³As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray^s for you. And I will teach^t you the way that is good and right. ²⁴But be sure to fear^u the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart;^v consider^w what great^x things he has done for you. ²⁵Yet if you persist^y in doing evil, both you and your king^z will perish.”^a