1 Samuel 12:1-12

1Then Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, 1I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me and I 2have 3appointed a king over you. 2Now, 4here is the king walking before you, but 5I am old and gray, and behold 6my sons are with you. And 7I have walked before you from my youth even to this day. 3Here I am; bear witness against me before the Lord and 8His anointed. 9Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or 10from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? I will restore it to you.” 4They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.” 5He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day that 11you have found nothing 12in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”

6Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who 1314appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. 7So now, take your stand, 15that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord which He did for you and your fathers. 816When Jacob went into Egypt and 17your fathers cried out to the Lord, then 18the Lord sent Moses and Aaron 1920who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. 9But 21they forgot the Lord their God, so 22He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and 23into the hand of the Philistines and 24into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 1025They cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served 26the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but 27now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.’ 11Then the Lord sent 28Jerubbaal and 2930Bedan and 31Jephthah and 32Samuel, and delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security. 12When you saw 33that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘34No, but a king shall reign over us,’ 35although the Lord your God was your king.