1 Samuel 12

New American Standard Bible

Samuel Addresses Israel

12 Then Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, ^(A)I have listened to your voice for all that you said to me, and I ^(B)have appointed a king over you. ²Now, ^(C)here is the king walking before you, but as for me, ^(D)I am old and gray, and ^(E)my sons are here with you. And ^(F)I have walked before you since my youth to this day. ³Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and ^(G)His anointed. ^(H)Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I exploited? Whom have I oppressed, or ^(I)from whose hand have I taken a bribe to close my eyes with it? I will return it to you.” ⁴And they said, “You have not exploited us or oppressed us, or taken anything from anyone’s hand.” ⁵So he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day that ^(J)you have found nothing ^(K)in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”

⁶Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who ^[a]^(L)appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. ⁷Now then, take your stand, ^(M)so that I may enter into judgment with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord that He did for you and your fathers. ⁸^(N)When Jacob went into Egypt and ^(O)your fathers cried out to the Lord, then ^(P)the Lord sent Moses and Aaron ^[b]^(Q)who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. ⁹But ^(R)they forgot the Lord their God, so ^(S)He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and ^(T)into the hand of the Philistines, and ^(U)into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. ¹⁰^(V)They cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have abandoned the Lord and have served ^(W)the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but ^(X)now save us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.’ ¹¹Then the Lord sent ^(Y)Jerubbaal, ^[c]^(Z)Bedan, ^(AA)Jephthah, and ^(AB)Samuel, and saved you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security.

The King Confirmed

¹²But when you saw ^(AC)that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon was coming against you, you said to me, ‘^(AD)No, but a king shall reign over us!’ ^(AE)Yet the Lord your God was your king. ¹³And now, ^(AF)behold, the king whom you have chosen, ^(AG)whom you have asked for, and behold, the Lord has ^[d]put a king over you. ¹⁴^(AH)If you will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the ^[e]command of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. ¹⁵But ^(AI)if you do not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the ^[f]command of the Lord, then ^(AJ)the hand of the Lord will be against you, ^(AK)even as it was against your fathers. ¹⁶Even now, ^(AL)take your stand and see this great thing which the Lord is going to do before your eyes. ¹⁷^(AM)Is it not the wheat harvest today? ^(AN)I will call to the Lord, that He will send ^[g]thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that ^(AO)your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord, by asking for yourselves a king.” ¹⁸So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent ^[h]thunder and rain that day; and ^(AP)all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

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

Footnotes

1 Samuel 12:6 Lit made
1 Samuel 12:8 Lit and they brought
1 Samuel 12:11 LXX and Syriac Barak
1 Samuel 12:13 Lit given
1 Samuel 12:14 Lit mouth
1 Samuel 12:15 Lit mouth
1 Samuel 12:17 Lit sounds
1 Samuel 12:18 Lit sounds
1 Samuel 12:24 Or revere

Job 29

New American Standard Bible

Job’s Past Was Glorious

29 Job again took up his ^(A)discourse and said,

²“Oh that I were as in months gone by,
As in the days when God ^(B)watched over me;
³When ^(C)His lamp shone over my head,
And ^(D)by His light I walked through darkness;
⁴Just as I was in the days of my youth,
When the ^(E)protection of God was over my tent;
⁵When ^[a]the Almighty was still with me,
And my children were around me;
⁶When my steps were bathed in ^(F)cream,
And the ^(G)rock poured out streams of oil for me!
⁷When I went out to ^(H)the gate of the city,
When I ^[b]took my seat in the public square,
⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the old men arose and stood.
⁹The leaders ^(I)stopped talking
And ^(J)put their hands on their mouths;
¹⁰The voices of the prominent people were ^[c]^(K)hushed,
And their ^(L)tongues stuck to their palates.
¹¹For when ^(M)an ear heard, it called me blessed,
And when an eye saw, it testified in support of me,
¹²Because I saved ^(N)the poor who cried for help,
And the ^(O)orphan who had no helper.
¹³The blessing of the one who ^(P)was about to perish came upon me,
And I made the ^(Q)widow’s heart sing for joy.
¹⁴I ^(R)put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a headband.
¹⁵I was ^(S)eyes to those who were blind,
And feet to those who ^[d]could not walk.
¹⁶I was a father to ^(T)the poor,
And I investigated the case which I did not know.
¹⁷I ^(U)broke the jaws of the wicked
And rescued the prey from his teeth.
¹⁸Then I ^[e]thought, ‘I will die with my ^[f]family,
And I will multiply my days as the sand.
¹⁹My ^(V)root is spread out to the waters,
And ^(W)dew lies on my branch all night.
²⁰My glory is ever new with me,
And my ^(X)bow is renewed in my hand.’

²¹“To me ^(Y)they listened and waited,
And they kept silent for my advice.
²²After my words ^(Z)they did not speak again,
And ^(AA)my speech dropped on them.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
And opened their mouths as for the late rain.
²⁴I smiled at them when they did not believe,
And they did not look at ^[g]my kindness ungraciously.
²⁵I chose a way for them and sat as ^(AB)chief,
And lived as a king among the troops,
As one who ^(AC)comforted the mourners.

Footnotes

Job 29:5 Heb Shaddai
Job 29:7 Lit set up
Job 29:10 Lit hidden
Job 29:15 Or limped
Job 29:18 Lit said
Job 29:18 Lit nest
Job 29:24 Lit the light of my face

Revelation 6

New American Standard Bible

The First Seal: Conqueror on a White Horse

6 Then I saw when the ^(A)Lamb broke one of the ^(B)seven seals, and I heard one of the ^(C)four living creatures saying as with a ^(D)voice of thunder, “Come^[a]!” ²I looked, and behold, a ^(E)white horse, and the one who sat on it had a bow; and ^(F)a crown was given to him, and he went out ^(G)conquering and to conquer.

The Second Seal: War

³When He broke the second seal, I heard the ^(H)second living creature saying, “Come^[b]!” ⁴And another, ^(I)a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to ^(J)take peace from the earth, and that people would kill one another; and a large sword was given to him.

The Third Seal: Famine

⁵When He broke the third seal, I heard the ^(K)third living creature saying, “Come^[c]!” I looked, and behold, a ^(L)black horse, and the one who sat on it had a ^(M)pair of scales in his hand. ⁶And I heard something like a voice in the center of the ^(N)four living creatures saying, “A ^[d]quart of wheat for a ^[e]denarius, and three ^[f]quarts of barley for a ^[g]denarius; and ^(O)do not damage the oil and the wine.”

The Fourth Seal: Death

⁷When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the ^(P)fourth living creature saying, “Come^[h]!” ⁸I looked, and behold, ^[i]an ^(Q)ashen horse; and the one who sat on it had the name ^(R)Death, and ^(S)Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, ^(T)to kill with sword, and famine, and ^[j]plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.

The Fifth Seal: Martyrs

⁹When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw ^(U)underneath the ^(V)altar the ^(W)souls of those who had been killed ^(X)because of the word of God, and because of the ^(Y)testimony which they had maintained; ¹⁰and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “^(Z)How long, O ^[k]^(AA)Lord, ^(AB)holy and true, ^[l]will You refrain from ^(AC)judging and avenging our blood on ^(AD)those who live on the earth?” ¹¹And a ^(AE)white robe was given to each of them; and they were told that they were to ^(AF)rest for a little while longer, ^(AG)until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters who were to be killed even as they had been, was ^(AH)completed also.

The Sixth Seal: Terror

¹²And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great ^(AI)earthquake; and the ^(AJ)sun became as black as ^(AK)sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; ¹³and ^(AL)the stars of the sky fell to the earth, ^(AM)as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. ¹⁴^(AN)The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and ^(AO)every mountain and island was removed from its place. ¹⁵Then ^(AP)the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; ¹⁶and they *^(AQ)said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the ^[m]sight of Him ^(AR)who sits on the throne, and from the ^(AS)wrath of the Lamb; ¹⁷for ^(AT)the great day of Their wrath has come, and ^(AU)who is able to stand?”