The King Confirmed

¹² But when you saw ^(A)that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon was coming against you, you said to me, ‘^(B)No, but a king shall reign over us!’ ^(C)Yet the Lord your God was your king. ¹³ And now, ^(D)behold, the king whom you have chosen, ^(E)whom you have asked for, and behold, the Lord has ^[a]put a king over you. ^14 (F)If you will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the ^[b]command of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. ¹⁵ But ^(G)if you do not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the ^[c]command of the Lord, then ^(H)the hand of the Lord will be against you, ^(I)even as it was against your fathers. ¹⁶ Even now, ^(J)take your stand and see this great thing which the Lord is going to do before your eyes. ^17 (K)Is it not the wheat harvest today? ^(L)I will call to the Lord, that He will send ^[d]thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that ^(M)your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord, by asking for yourselves a king.” ¹⁸ So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent ^[e]thunder and rain that day; and ^(N)all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

¹⁹ Then all the people said to Samuel, “^(O)Pray to the Lord your God for your servants, so that we do not die; for we have added to all our sins ^(P)this evil, by asking for ourselves a king.” ²⁰ Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet ^(Q)do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹ Indeed, you must not turn aside, for then you would go after ^(R)useless things which cannot benefit or save, because they are useless. ²² For ^(S)the Lord will not abandon His people ^(T)on account of His great name, because the Lord ^(U)has been pleased to make you a people for Himself. ²³ Furthermore, as for me, ^(V)far be it from me that I would sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but ^(W)I will instruct you in the good and right way. ^24 (X)Only ^[f]fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider ^(Y)what great things He has done for you. ^25 (Z)But if you still do evil, ^(AA)both you and your king ^(AB)will be swept away.”