CHAPTER 12
1 Forsooth Samuel said to all Israel, Lo! I [have] heard your voice by all things which ye spake to me, and I [have] ordained a king upon you;
2 and now the king goeth before you. And I have waxed eld and hoary; and my sons be with you; also I have lived before you from my young waxing age unto this day.
3 And lo! I am ready; speak ye to me before the Lord, and before the christ of him or his anointed, or king; whether I have taken any man’s ox, either his ass; if I have falsely challenged any man; if I have oppressed any man; if I have taken gift of any man’s hand; I shall despise it today, and I shall restore to you.
4 And they said, Thou hast not falsely challenged us, neither thou hast oppressed us, neither thou hast taken anything of any man’s hand.
5 And he said to them, The Lord is witness against you, and his christ, or his anointed, or king, is witness in this day; for ye have not found any-thing in mine hand. And they said, He is witness.
6 And Samuel said to the people, The Lord, that made Moses and Aaron, and that led your fathers out of the land of Egypt, is present;
7 now therefore stand ye, that I strive by doom against you before the Lord, of all the mercies of the Lord, which he did with you, and with your fathers.
8 How that Jacob entered into Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord; and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and led your fathers out of Egypt, and hath set them in this place.
9 Which forgat their Lord God; and he betook them into the hand of Sisera, master of the chivalry of Hazor, and in the hand of Philistines, and in the hand of the king of Moab; and they fought against them.
10 And after this your fathers cried to the Lord, and said, We have sinned, for we forsook the Lord, and served Baalim and Ashtaroth; now therefore deliver thou us from the hand of our enemies, and we shall serve thee.
11 And the Lord sent Jerubbaal, that is Gideon, and Bedan, that is, Samson, and Barak, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you from the hand of your enemies by compass; and then ye dwelled securely.
12 And ye saw, that Nahash, the king of the sons of Ammon, came against you; and ye said to me, counselling you to ask none other king than God, Nay, but a king shall command to us; when your Lord God reigned in you.
13 Now therefore your king is ready, whom ye have chosen and asked for; lo! the Lord hath given to you a king.
14 If ye dread the Lord, and serve him, and hear his voice, and wrath not the mouth of the Lord; ye and your king, that commandeth to you, shall pursue [or following] your Lord God.
15 Forsooth if ye hear not the voice of the Lord, but wrath his word, the hand of the Lord shall be on you, and on your fathers.
16 But also now stand ye, and see this great thing, that the Lord shall do in your sight.
17 Whether harvest of wheat is not today? I shall inwardly call the Lord, and he shall give voices, that is, thunders, and rains; and ye shall know, and see, for ye asking a king upon you, ye have done grievous evil to yourself in the sight of the Lord.
18 And Samuel cried to the Lord, and the Lord gave thunders and rains in that day. And all the people dreaded greatly the Lord and Samuel;
19 and all the people said to Samuel, Pray thou for thy servants to thy Lord God, that we die not; for we [have] added evil to all our sins, that we ask a king to us.
20 And Samuel said to the people, Dread ye not; ye have done all this evil; nevertheless go ye not away from following the back of the Lord, but serve ye the Lord in all your heart;
21 and do not ye bow after vain things, that shall not profit you, neither they shall deliver you; for those [or they] be vain things.
22 And then the Lord shall not forsake his people for his great name; for the Lord hath sworn to make you a people to himself.
23 And this sin be far from me against the Lord, that I cease to pray for you; and I shall teach you a rightful [or right] way and a good.
24 Therefore dread ye the Lord, and serve ye him in truth, and of all your heart; for ye saw those great things, that he hath done to you;
25 that if ye continue in malice, both ye and your king shall perish altogether.