Samuel Addresses Israel

12 Then Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, ^(A)I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me and I ^(B)have ^[a]appointed a king over you. ² Now, ^(C)here is the king walking before you, but ^(D)I am old and gray, and behold ^(E)my sons are with you. And ^(F)I have walked before you from my youth even to this day. ³ Here I am; bear witness 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 defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or ^(I)from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? 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 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.”

⁶ Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who ^[b](L)appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. ⁷ So now, take your stand, ^(M)that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord which 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 ^[c](Q)who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. ⁹ But ^(R)they forgot the Lord their God, so ^(S)He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain 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 forsaken the Lord and have served ^(W)the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but ^(X)now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.’ ¹¹ Then the Lord sent ^(Y)Jerubbaal and ^[d](Z)Bedan and ^(AA)Jephthah and ^(AB)Samuel, and delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security.

The King Confirmed

¹² When you saw ^(AC)that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘^(AD)No, but a king shall reign over us,’ ^(AE)although the Lord your God was your king. ¹³ Now therefore, ^(AF)here is the king whom you have chosen, ^(AG)whom you have asked for, and behold, the Lord has set 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 also the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. ^15 (AI)If you will 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)as it was against your fathers. ¹⁶ Even now, ^(AL)take your stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. ^17 (AM)Is it not the wheat harvest today? ^(AN)I will call to the Lord, that He may 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.” ¹⁸ So 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.

¹⁹ Then all the people said to Samuel, “^(AQ)Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins ^(AR)this evil by asking for ourselves a king.” ²⁰ Samuel 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. ²¹ You must not turn aside, for then you would go after ^(AT)futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile. ²² For ^(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. ²³ Moreover, as for me, ^(AX)far be it from me that I should 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 wickedly, ^(BC)both you and your king ^(BD)will be swept away.”

Heth.

Paul’s Defense before Agrippa

26 ^(A)Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

² “In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today; ^3 [a]especially because you are an expert in all ^(B)customs and ^[b]questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴ “So then, all Jews know ^(C)my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem; ⁵ since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a ^(D)Pharisee ^(E)according to the strictest ^(F)sect of our religion. ⁶ And now I am ^[c]standing trial ^(G)for the hope of ^(H)the promise made by God to our fathers; ⁷ the promise ^(I)to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this ^(J)hope, O King, I am being ^(K)accused by Jews. ⁸ Why is it considered incredible among you people ^(L)if God does raise the dead?

⁹ “So then, ^(M)I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to ^(N)the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰ And this is ^[d]just what I ^(O)did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the ^[e]saints in prisons, having ^(P)received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I ^(Q)cast my vote against them. ¹¹ And ^(R)as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being ^(S)furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them ^(T)even to ^[f]foreign cities.

¹² “^[g]While so engaged ^(U)as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, ¹³ at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, ^[h]brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. ¹⁴ And when we had ^(V)all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the ^[i](W)Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? ^[j]It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ ¹⁵ And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ But get up and ^(X)stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to ^(Y)appoint you a ^(Z)minister and ^(AA)a witness not only to the things which you have ^[k]seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; ^17 (AB)rescuing you ^(AC)from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, ¹⁸ to ^(AD)open their eyes so that they may turn from ^(AE)darkness to light and from the dominion of ^(AF)Satan to God, that they may receive ^(AG)forgiveness of sins and an ^(AH)inheritance among those who have been sanctified by ^(AI)faith in Me.’

¹⁹ “So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰ but kept declaring both ^(AJ)to those of Damascus first, and also ^(AK)at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even ^(AL)to the Gentiles, that they should ^(AM)repent and turn to God, performing deeds ^(AN)appropriate to repentance. ²¹ For this reason some Jews ^(AO)seized me in the temple and tried ^(AP)to put me to death. ²² So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day ^(AQ)testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what ^(AR)the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; ^23 [l](AS)that ^[m]the Christ was ^[n]to suffer, and ^[o]that ^(AT)by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim ^(AU)light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴ While Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus *said in a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind! ^[p]Your great ^(AV)learning is ^[q]driving you mad.” ²⁵ But Paul *said, “I am not out of my mind, ^(AW)most excellent Festus, but I utter words ^[r]of sober truth. ²⁶ For the king ^[s](AX)knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a ^[t]corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you ^[u]do.” ²⁸ Agrippa replied to Paul, “^[v]In a short time you ^[w]will persuade me to ^[x]become a ^(AY)Christian.” ²⁹ And Paul said, “^[y]I would wish to God, that whether ^[z]in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these ^(AZ)chains.”

^30 (BA)The king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them, ³¹ and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying, “^(BB)This man is not doing anything worthy of death or ^[aa]imprisonment.” ³² And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been ^(BC)set free if he had not ^(BD)appealed to Caesar.”