12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have responded¹ to everything that you have said to me. I have established a king over you. 12:2 Now this king goes before you. But I am old and gray-headed, though my sons are here with you. I have gone before you from the time of my youth till the present day. 12:3 Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the LORD and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken money so that I would overlook something? Tell me, and I will return it to you!”

12:4 They replied, “You have not wronged us, nor have you oppressed us. You have not taken anything from the hand of anyone.” 12:5 He said to them, “The LORD is witness to you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything against me.” They said, “He is witness!”

12:6 Samuel said to the people, “The LORD is the one who chose Moses and Aaron and who brought up your fathers from the land of Egypt. 12:7 Now take your position, so that I may enter into judgment with you before the LORD with regard to all the LORD’s righteous deeds that he has done with you and with your fathers. 12:8 When Jacob entered Egypt, your fathers cried out to the LORD. The LORD sent Moses and Aaron, and they led your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

12:9 “But they forgot the LORD their God, so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the leader of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought them. 12:10 Then they cried out to the LORD saying, “We have sinned, for we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtarot. Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you. 12:11 So the LORD sent Jerub-Baal,² Barak,³ Jephthah, and Samuel,⁴ and he delivered you from the hand of your enemies all around, and you were able to live securely.

12:12 “When you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king will rule over us’—in spite of the fact that the LORD your God was your king! 12:13 Now look! Here is the king that you chose—the one that you asked for. The LORD has provided a king over you. 12:14 If you fear the LORD, serving him and listening to his voice and not rebelling against what he says,⁵ and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the LORD your God, all will be well. 12:15 But if you don’t listen to the voice of the LORD and rebel against what the LORD says, the hand of the LORD will be against both you and your fathers.⁶

12:16 “So now, take your stand and watch this great thing that the LORD is about to do in your sight. 12:17 Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the LORD so that he provides thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great evil you have done in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king for yourselves.”

12:18 So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD provided thunder and rain on that day. All the people were very afraid of both the LORD and of Samuel. 12:19 All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God on behalf of your servants that we not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil of asking for ourselves a king.”

12:20 Then Samuel said to the people, “Don’t fear. You have done all this evil. However, don’t turn aside from the LORD. Serve the LORD with all your heart. 12:21 You should not turn aside after empty things that can’t profit and can’t deliver, since they are empty. 12:22 For the LORD will not abandon his people for the sake of his great name. The LORD was pleased to make you his own people. 12:23 As far as I am concerned, far be it from me to sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. I will instruct you in the way that is good and upright. 12:24 However, fear the LORD and serve him reliably with all your heart. Just look at how he has done great things with you! 12:25 But if you continue practicing evil, both you and your king will be destroyed.”⁷