Samuel 12

1 Samuel said to allIsrael, “Behold,Ihave
listened to your voice in all that you said to
me, and have made a king over you.

2 Now, behold,the king walksbefore you.
I am old and gray-headed. Behold, my sons
are with you. I have walked before you
from my youth to this day.

3 Here I am. Witness against me before
Yahweh and before his anointed. Whose
ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I
taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom
have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I
taken a bribe to make me blind my eyes? I
will restore it to you.”

4 They said, “You have not defrauded us,
nor oppressed us, neither have you taken
anything from anyone’s hand.”

5 He said to them, “Yahweh is witness
against you, and his anointed is witness
today, that you have not found anything in
my hand.”
They said, “He is witness.”

6 Samuel said to the people, “Itis Yahweh
who appointed Moses and Aaron, and that
brought your fathers up out of the land of
Egypt.

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

8 “When Jacob had come into Egypt, and
your fathers cried to Yahweh, then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron, who brought
your fathers out of Egypt, and made them
to dwell in this place.

9 But they forgot Yahweh their God; and
he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the
hand of the Philistines, and into the hand
of the king of Moab; and they fought
against them.

10 They cried to Yahweh, and said, ‘We
have sinned, because we have forsaken
Yahweh and have served the Baals and the
Ashtaroth; but now deliver us out of the
hand of our enemies, and we will serve
you.’

11 Yahweh sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out
of the hand of your enemies on every side;
and you lived in safety.

12 “When you saw that Nahash the king
of the children of Ammon came against
you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall
reignover us,’ whenYahweh your God was
your king.