Samuel’s Farewell Address

12 And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have hearkened to your voice in all that you have said to me, and have made a king over you. ² And now, behold, the king walks before you; and I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you; and I have walked before you from my youth until this day. ³ Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose ass have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify gainst me^[a] and I will restore it to you.” ⁴ They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.” ⁵ And he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”

⁶ And Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness,^[b] who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. ⁷ Now therefore stand still, that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the saving deeds of the Lord which he performed for you and for your fathers. ⁸ When Jacob went into Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them,^[c] then your fathers cried to the Lord and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place. ⁹ But they forgot the Lord their God; and he sold them into the hand of Sis′era, commander of the army of Jabin king of^[d] Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab; and they fought against them. ¹⁰ And they cried to the Lord, and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served the Ba′als and the Ash′taroth; but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.’ ¹¹ And the Lord sent Jerubba′al and Barak,^[e] and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you dwelt in safety. ¹² And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king. ¹³ And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you. ¹⁴ If you will fear the Lord and serve him and hearken to his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well; ¹⁵ but if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.^[f]