Samuel greets the people
1Samuel said to all the people of Israel: ‘I have done everything that you have asked and I have chosen a king to rule over you. 2Now you have a king who can lead you. I am old and my sons are here with you. I have led you from the time I was young until now. 3Here I am. Tell me if there is anything that I have done wrong. Say it where the Lord and his chosen king can hear it. Is there an ox or donkey that I have taken from anyone? Is there anyone whom I have cheated or oppressed? Is there anyone from whom I took bribe money to judge wrongly? Tell me and I will pay it back.’
4The Israelites said: ‘You have not cheated or oppressed us. You have not taken money from anyone.’
5Samuel said to them: ‘The Lord and his chosen king are my witnesses. You can not accuse me, because I have done nothing wrong.’ They said: ‘It is true.’
6Then Samuel said to the people: ‘The Lord chose Moses and Aaron to be leaders and He brought your forefathers out of the land of Egypt. 7Come and stand here so that I can tell you how good God was to you and to your fathers. The Lord must hear it.
8When Jacob came into Egypt, your fathers prayed to the Lord and asked Him to help them. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron and they brought your forefathers out of Egypt to come and live here. 9But your forefathers forgot the Lord their God and so the Lord called Sisera to go to war_against the people of Israel. Sisera was the chief of the army of Hazor. The Lord also called the Philistines and the king of Moab to go to war_against the people of Israel.
10The Israelites prayed to the Lord and asked Him to help them. They said: “We have sinned. We have gone away from God and we have served the Baal and Ashtoreth idols. But please save us now from our enemies, and then we will serve You.” 11Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel and He saved you from all your enemies around you so that you could live safely. 12But when you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites wanted to go to war_against you, you said to me: “No, we want a king to rule over us.” But the Lord your God was your King. 13Now look here at the king that you have chosen, the one you have asked for. Look, this is the king that the Lord has given you.
14All will be well if you respect your God and serve Him and do what He wants. All will be well if you do not rebel_against the things He says to you and if you always follow the Lord your God. You and your king who rules over you must listen to Him. 15But if you don't do what the Lord wants and if you rebel_against what He tells you, then He will punish you, as He has punished your forefathers. 16Now you must come and stand here so that you can see what great thing God is going to do. 17It is now time to cut off wheat, and it is not time for rain. But I will pray to the Lord and He will send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see how wrong you were in the eyes of the Lord when you said you wanted to have a king.’
18Samuel prayed to the Lord and on that day the Lord sent thunder and rain. All the people were afraid of the Lord and Samuel. 19The people said to Samuel: ‘You must please pray to the Lord your God and ask Him not to cause us to die, because we have done many sins and now we have also done this bad thing to ask for a king.’
20Samuel said to the people: ‘Do not be afraid. You have done all these bad things, but you must not go away from the Lord. You must serve Him with all your heart. 21Do not go away from God, because if you do, you will go to idols that are worthless and can not help and save you. 22The Lord will not leave his people. He wants everyone to know that He is the great God. Yes, He has decided that you must be his people. 23And as for me, do not think that I will sin_against the Lord. I will not stop praying for you. I will teach you how to live in the right way. 24But you must respect the Lord and you must truly serve Him with all your heart. You must remember what great things He has done for you. 25But if you keep on doing things that are wrong, then the Lord will destroy you and your king.’
