| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Samuel said to all Israel, "I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3Here I stand. 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? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right." |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4"You have not cheated or oppressed us," they replied. "You have not taken anything from anyone's hand." |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Samuel 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 said. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6Then Samuel said to the people, "It is the LORD who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the LORD as to all the righteous acts performed by the LORD for you and your ancestors. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8"After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the LORD for help, and the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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, who fought against them. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10They cried out to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned; we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.' |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Then the LORD sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12"But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, 'No, we want a king to rule over us'--even though the LORD your God was your king. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the LORD has set a king over you. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14If you fear the LORD and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the LORD your God--good! |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15But if you do not obey the LORD, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16"Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes! |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the LORD when you asked for a king." |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Then Samuel called on the LORD, and that same day the LORD sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the LORD and of Samuel. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19The people all said to Samuel, "Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king." |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20"Do not be afraid," Samuel replied. "You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish." |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
|
