1 Samuel 12

12 ¹Samuel said to all Israel, "I listened to your voice in all you told me, and made a king over you. ²Now the king walks before you. I am old and gray-haired; my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until today. ³Here I am—testify against me before our Father and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? Whose bribe have I taken to look away? Tell me, and I will repay you."

⁴They said, "You have not cheated us or oppressed us or taken anything from anyone's hand."

⁵He said to them, "Our Father is witness against you, and his anointed is witness today, that you found nothing in my hand." They said, "He is witness."

⁶Then Samuel told the people, "It was our Father who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt. ⁷Now stand, so I may state my case against you before our Father—all his just acts for you and your ancestors."

⁸When Jacob entered Egypt, your ancestors cried to our Father, who sent Moses and Aaron, bringing them out of Egypt and settling them here. ⁹But they forgot our Father, so he handed them to Sisera, Hazor's army commander, to the Philistines, and to Moab's king, who fought them.

¹⁰They cried to our Father: "We have sinned; we abandoned our Father and served the Baals and Ashtaroth. Now rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you." ¹¹So our Father sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, rescued you from the hand of your enemies all around, so you lived safely. ^a a v11 Jerubbaal is another name for Gideon, the judge who tore down his father's altar to Baal.

¹²When you saw Ammon's king Nahash coming against you, you told me, "No, a king must rule us"—though our Father was your king. ¹³Now here is the king you chose and asked for. Look, our Father set a king over you. ¹⁴If you fear our Father, serve and obey him, and don't rebel against his command, and you and your king both follow our Father, all will be well. ¹⁵But if you disobey our Father and rebel against his command, our Father's hand will oppose you, as it did your ancestors.

¹⁶Now stand still and see this great thing our Father is about to do before your eyes. ¹⁷Isn't it wheat harvest today? I'll call our Father—he'll send thunder and rain, so you'll know how great the evil of your asking a king for yourselves was in our Father's sight. ^b b v17 Rain almost never falls during the wheat harvest in early summer, so the sudden thunderstorm was unmistakably a sign from our Father.

¹⁸Samuel called out to our Father; that day he sent thunder and rain, and all the people deeply feared our Father and Samuel.

¹⁹All the people said to Samuel, "Pray to your Father for your servants, so we won't die: we've added evil to all our sins by asking for a king."

²⁰Samuel told the people, "Don't be afraid. You've done all this evil - yet don't turn from following our Father; serve him with all your heart. ²¹Do not turn to empty idols—no help, no rescue, for they are empty. ²²For our Father will not abandon his people, for his great name's sake. He chose to make you his own people. ²³I too could never sin against our Father by stopping prayers for you; I will teach you the good and right way. ²⁴Only fear our Father, serve him faithfully with all your heart, consider his great deeds for you. ²⁵But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away."