1 Samuel 12:1-15

International Standard Version

Samuel’s Farewell

12 Then Samuel told all Israel, “Take note! I’ve listened to you, to everything you have told me, and I’ve appointed a king over you. ² Now here is the king walking before you,^[a] while I’m old and gray, and my sons are with you. I’ve walked before you^[b] from my youth until this day. ³ Here I am. Testify against me in the Lord’s presence and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken? Who have I cheated? Who have I oppressed? Who bribed me to look the other way?^[c] I’ll restore it to you.”

⁴ They said, “You haven’t cheated us or oppressed us, and you haven’t taken anything from anyone’s hand.”

⁵ He told them, “Today the Lord is testifying, along with his anointed, that you haven’t found any bribes in my possession.”

They said, “He’s a witness.”

⁶ Then Samuel told the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors up out of the land of Egypt. ⁷ Now stand up and I’ll pass judgment on you in light of the Lord’s righteous acts that he did for you and your ancestors. ⁸ After Jacob went to Egypt, and your ancestors cried out to the Lord, he sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place. ⁹ But they forgot the Lord their God, so he handed them over to the domination of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into domination by the Philistines and by the king of Moab, and Israel fought against them.

¹⁰ “Then they cried out to the Lord: ‘We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served^[d] the Baals^[e] and the Ashtaroth.^[f] Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve^[g] you.’ ¹¹ Then the Lord sent Jerubbaal,^[h] Barak,^[i] Jephthah, and Samuel and he delivered you from the hand of your enemies on every side, so that you lived securely. ¹² But when you saw that Nahash, king of the Ammonites, was coming to fight you, you told me, ‘No, let a king rule over us instead,’ even though the Lord your God was your king.

¹³ “Now, here is the king you have chosen, the one whom you asked for. See, the Lord has appointed a king over you. ¹⁴ If you fear the Lord, serve him, obey him, and don’t rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then both you and the king who rules over you will truly follow the Lord your God. ¹⁵ But if you don’t obey the Lord and rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the Lord will turn against you as he did against your ancestors.^[j]