1 Samuel 12:1-5

Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

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.^{(A) 2} Now you can see that the king is leading you. As for me, I’m old and grey, 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?^(B) Who have I wronged or mistreated? Who gave me a bribe to overlook something?^[a](C) 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 anything^(D) in my hand.’^(E)

‘He is a witness,’ they said.