1 Samuel 12:1-15

21st Century King James Version

12 And Samuel said unto all Israel, “Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me and have made a king over you;

² and now, behold, the king walketh before you. And I am old and grayheaded, and behold, my sons are with you; and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.

³ Behold, here I am! Witness against me before the Lord and before His anointed. Whose ox have I taken, or whose ass have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? And I will restore it to you.”

⁴ And they said, “Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught from any man’s hand.”

⁵ And he said unto them, “The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found aught in my hand.” And they answered, “He is witness.”

⁶ And Samuel said unto the people, “It is the Lord who advanced Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.

⁷ Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord which He did to you and to your fathers.

⁸ When Jacob had come into Egypt and your fathers cried unto the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.

⁹ And when they forgot the Lord their God, He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

¹⁰ And they cried unto the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baalim and Ashtaroth; but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve Thee.’

¹¹ And the Lord sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelt safe.

¹² And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, ‘Nay, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king.

¹³ Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen and whom ye have desired! And behold, the Lord hath set a king over you.

¹⁴ If ye will fear the Lord and serve Him and obey His voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king who reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God.

¹⁵ But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers.