Samuel Addresses Israel

1Then Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have listened to your voice for all that you said to me, and I have appointed a king over you. 2Now, here is the king walking before you, but as for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. And I have walked before you since my youth to this day. 3Here I am; testify against me before the LORD and His anointed. Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I exploited? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to close my eyes with it? I will return it to you.” 4And they said, “You have not exploited us or oppressed us, or taken anything from anyone’s hand.” 5So he said to them, “The LORD is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day that you have found nothing in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”

6Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the LORD who [a]appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. 7Now then, take your stand, so that I may enter into judgment with you before the LORD concerning all the righteous acts of the LORD that He did for you and your fathers. 8When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to the LORD, then the LORD sent Moses and Aaron [b]who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. 9But they forgot the LORD their God, so He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander 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. 10They cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have abandoned the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now save us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.’ 11Then the LORD sent Jerubbaal, [c]Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and saved you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security.

The King Confirmed