1 Samuel 12
12
Samuel’s Farewell Address
1And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have obeyed #ch. 8:5, 19, 20 your voice in all that you have said to me #ch. 10:24; 11:14, 15and have made a king over you. 2And now, behold, the king #[ch. 8:20; Num. 27:17] walks before you, #ch. 8:1, 5and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. 3Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before #ch. 24:6; 26:9, 11, 16; 2 Sam. 1:14, 16; [ch. 10:1] his anointed. #[Ex. 20:17; Num. 16:15]Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me#12:3 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks Testify against me and I will restore it to you.” 4They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.” 5And he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and #[See ver. 3 above] his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything #Ex. 21:16; 22:4in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”
6And Samuel said to the people, #[Mic. 6:4]“The Lord is witness,#12:6 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks is witness who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. 8#Gen. 46:5, 6 When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them,#12:8 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks and the Egyptians oppressed them #Ex. 2:23 then your fathers cried out to the Lord and #Ex. 3:10; 4:14-16 the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, #[ch. 10:18]who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. 9But #Judg. 3:7 they forgot the Lord their God. #Judg. 4:2 And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor,#12:9 Septuagint the army of Jabin king of Hazor #Judg. 10:7; 13:1; [Judg. 3:31] and into the hand of the Philistines, #Judg. 3:12and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. 10#Judg. 10:10; [Judg. 3:9] And they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord #Judg. 2:13 and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now #Judg. 10:15deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’ 11And the Lord sent #Judg. 6:14, 32 Jerubbaal #Judg. 4:6, 8, 10 and Barak#12:11 Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew Bedan #Judg. 11:1 and Jephthah and #See ch. 7:10-13Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety. 12And when you saw that #ch. 11:1 Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, #ch. 8:5, 19 you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ #[ch. 8:7; 10:19; Judg. 8:23]when the Lord your God was your king. 13And now #ch. 10:24 behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, #ch. 9:16, 17; [Hos. 13:11]the Lord has set a king over you. 14If you will #ver. 24; Deut. 6:2; Josh. 24:14fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. 15But #Lev. 26:14, 15; Deut. 28:15; Josh. 24:20 if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then #ch. 5:9 the hand of the Lord will be against you and #[ver. 9]your king.#12:15 Septuagint; Hebrew fathers 16Now therefore #Ex. 14:13stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. 17#[Prov. 26:1] Is it not wheat harvest today? #ch. 7:9, 10; [James 5:16-18] I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that #ch. 8:7your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” 18So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, #Ex. 14:31; [Ezra 10:9]and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.
19And all the people said to Samuel, #ver. 23; [Ex. 9:28; 10:17; Jer. 15:1]“Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” 20And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet #Deut. 11:16do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21And #[See ver. 20 above] do not turn aside after #Jer. 16:19; Hab. 2:18; [1 Cor. 8:4]empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22#1 Kgs. 6:13; Ps. 94:14; [1 Kgs. 8:57] For the Lord will not forsake his people, #Josh. 7:9; Ps. 106:8; Jer. 14:21; Ezek. 20:9, 14, 22 for his great name’s sake, because #Deut. 7:7, 8; 14:2; [1 Pet. 2:9]it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 23Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing #See ver. 19 to pray for you, #1 Kgs. 8:36; 2 Chr. 6:27; Ps. 27:11; [Prov. 4:11; Jer. 6:16]and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24#ver. 14; [Eccles. 12:13] Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider #Deut. 10:21; Ps. 126:2, 3what great things he has done for you. 25But if you still do wickedly, #Josh. 24:20; [Num. 16:26] you shall be swept away, #[Deut. 28:36]both you and your king.”
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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1 Samuel 12
12
1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have done#tn Heb “Look, I have listened to your voice.” everything you requested.#tn Heb “to all which you said to me.” I have given you a king.#tn Heb “and I have installed a king over you.” 2 Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day. 3 Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king.#tn Heb “anointed [one].” Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe so that I would overlook something? Tell me,#tn The words “tell me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. and I will return it to you!”
4 They replied, “You have not wronged us or oppressed us. You have not taken anything from the hand of anyone.” 5 He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king#tn Heb “anointed [one].” is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.”#tn Heb “that you have not found anything in my hand.” They said, “He is witness!”
6 Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is the one who chose Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors#tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 8). up from the land of Egypt. 7 Now take your positions, so I may confront you#tn Heb “and I will enter into judgment with you” (NRSV similar); NAB “and I shall arraign you.” before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors.#tn Heb “all the just actions which he has done with you and with your fathers.” 8 When Jacob entered Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the Lord. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they led your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
9 “But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave#tn Heb “sold” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera”; NLT “he let them be conquered by Sisera.” them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s#map For location see Map1-D2; Map2-D3; Map3-A2; Map4-C1. army,#tn Heb “captain of the host of Hazor.” and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted,#tn Heb “and said.” ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth.#tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural). The words “images of” are supplied in both vv. 3 and 4 for clarity.sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. See the note on the same term in 7:3. Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’#tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result. 11 So the Lord sent Jerub-Baal,#sn Jerub-Baal (יְרֻבַּעַל) is also known as Gideon (see Judg 6:32). The Book of Judges uses both names for him. Barak,#tc The MT has “Bedan” (בְּדָן) here (cf. KJV, NASB, CEV). But a deliverer by this name is not elsewhere mentioned in the OT. The translation follows the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “Barak.” Jephthah, and Samuel,#tc In the ancient versions there is some confusion with regard to these names, both with regard to the particular names selected for mention and with regard to the order in which they are listed. For example, the LXX has “Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel.” But the Targum has “Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, and Samuel,” while the Syriac Peshitta has “Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.” and he delivered you from the hand of the enemies all around you, and you were able to live securely.
12 “When you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king will rule over us’ – even though the Lord your God is your king! 13 Now look! Here is the king you have chosen – the one that you asked for! Look, the Lord has given you a king! 14 If you fear the Lord, serving him and obeying him#tn Heb “and you listen to his voice.” and not rebelling against what he says,#tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.” So also in v. 15. and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, all will be well.#tn The words “all will be well” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. 15 But if you don’t obey#tn Heb “listen to the voice of.” the Lord and rebel against what the Lord says, the hand of the Lord will be against both you and your king.#tc The LXX reads “your king” rather than the MT’s “your fathers.” The latter makes little sense here. Some follow MT, but translate “as it was against your fathers.” See P. K. McCarter, 1 Samuel (AB), 212.
16 “So now, take your positions and watch this great thing that the Lord is about to do in your sight. 17 Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves.”
18 So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord made it thunder and rain that day. All the people were very afraid of both the Lord and Samuel. 19 All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God on behalf of us – your servants – so we won’t die, for we have added to all our sins by asking for a king.”#tn Heb “for we have added to all our sins an evil [thing] by asking for ourselves a king.”
20 Then Samuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed sinned.#tn Heb “you have done all this evil.” However, don’t turn aside from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 You should not turn aside after empty things that can’t profit and can’t deliver, since they are empty.#tn Or “useless” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “nothing”; NASB “futile”; TEV “are not real.” 22 The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation.#tn Heb “on account of his great name.” The Lord was pleased to make you his own people. 23 As far as I am concerned, far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you! I will instruct you in the way that is good and upright. 24 However, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Just look at the great things he has done for you! 25 But if you continue to do evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”
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