1 Samuel 12:1-13 ▼

1 And Samuel sayd vnto al Israel: Beholde, I haue hearkened vnto your voyce in all that ye sayde vnto me, and haue made a king ouer you.

2 Nowe therfore, your king walketh before you: and I am olde and graye headed, and behold my sonnes are with you, & I haue walked before you from my childehod vnto this day.

3 Beholde here I am, beare recorde of me before the Lorde & before his annoynted: Whose oxe haue I taken? or whose asse haue I taken? whom haue I done wrong to? Whom haue I hurt? Or of whose hande haue I receaued any bribe, to blind myne eyes therwith? and I will restore it you.

4 They sayde: Thou hast done vs no wrong, nor hurt vs, neither hast thou taken ought of any mans hande.

5 He sayd vnto them againe: The Lord is witnesse against you, and his annoynted is witnesse this day, that ye haue found naught in my handes. And they aunswered: He is witnesse.

6 And Samuel sayd vnto the people: It is the Lorde that made Moyses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers out of the lande of Egypt.

7 Nowe therfore stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lorde, according to all the righteousnesses of the Lorde, whiche he shewed both you and your fathers.

8 After yt Iacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cryed vnto the Lord, the Lord sent Moyses & Aaron, which brought your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwel in this place.

9 And whe they forgat the Lord their God, he solde the into ye hand of Sisara captayne of the hoast of Hazor, & into the hande of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

10 And they cryed vnto the Lord, & sayd: We haue sinned, because we haue forsaken the Lord, and haue serued Baalim and Astharoth: Nowe therfore deliuer vs out of the handes of our enemies, and we will serue thee.

11 And ye Lord sent Ierobaal, Bedan, Iephthah, and Samuel, and deliuered you out of the handes of your enemies on euerie side, and ye dwelled safe.

12 And for all that, when you sawe that Nahas the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye sayd vnto me: Not so, but a king shall raigne ouer vs: when yet the Lord your God was your king.

13 Nowe therfore behold the king whom ye haue chosen, and whom ye haue desired: lo, ye Lorde hath set a king ouer you.