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said to all Israel, “I have listened carefully to you in everything you have said to me, and have set a king over you. 2 Now you can see that you have the king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, but my sons are with you. I have been your leader from my youth to this day. 3 Look, here I am. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and His anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me hide my eyes from it? If so, I will restore it to you.”
4 “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us,” they responded, “nor have you taken anything from anyone’s hand.”
5 Samuel said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and also His anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.”
“He is witness,” they answered.
6 Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your forefathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7 So now then, stay where you are, and allow me to reason with you before the Lord, and I will recount to you all the saving acts that He has done for you and your fathers.
8 “When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who led your forefathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
9 “But they forgot the Lord their God, so He sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab also, and they fought against them. 10 Then they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths; but now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you’. 11 So the Lord sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hands of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.
12 “But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king. 13 Now then, see the king you have chosen and whom you have asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear the Lord and serve Him and obey His voice and not rebel against the commands of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the Lord your God. 15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, and if you rebel against the commands of the Lord, the hand of the Lord will be against you, as His hand was also against your fathers.
16 ““Now therefore, stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes! 17 Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, and He will send thunder and rain; and you will understand and see that your wickedness is great that you have done in the sight of the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves.”
18 Then Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people were terrified of the Lord and of Samuel.
19 The Israelite people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so we won’t die. For we have added to all our sins this evil of asking for a king for ourselves.”
20 “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “Though you have done all this wickedness, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 Do not turn away to follow after worthless things, that cannot profit you nor deliver you, but are futile. 22 For the Lord will not abandon His people because of His great name, and because it has pleased the Lord to make you His own people.
23 “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. I will teach you the good and right way. 24 But be sure to fear the Lord, and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. 25 However, if you still persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”