Samuel’s Farewell Address

12 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to you in all that you have said to me and have set a king over you.^{(A) 2} See, it is the king who leads you now; I am old and gray, but my sons are with you. I have led you from my youth until this day.^{(B) 3} Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey 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 against me,^[a] and I will restore it to you.”^{(C) 4} They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from the hand of anyone.” ⁵ 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.”^(D)

⁶ Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness, who^[b] appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of the land of Egypt.^{(E) 7} Now, therefore, take your stand so that I may enter into judgment with you before the Lord, and I will declare to you^[c] all the righteous acts of the Lord that he performed for you and for your ancestors.^{(F) 8} When Jacob went into Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them,^[d] then your ancestors cried to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.^{(G) 9} But they forgot the Lord their God, and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of King Jabin of^[e] Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.^{(H) 10} Then they cried to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Astartes, but now rescue us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.’^{(I) 11} And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak,^[f] and Jephthah, and Samson^[g] and rescued you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.^{(J) 12} But when you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ though the Lord your God was your king.^{(K) 13} See, here is the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; see, the Lord has set a king over you.^{(L) 14} If you will fear the Lord and serve him and heed 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;^{(M) 15} but if you will not heed 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.^[h](N)