The People Confess Their Sins

¹On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.

²Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

³While they stood in their places, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and they spent another quarter of the day in confession and worship of the LORD their God.

⁴And the Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani—stood on the raised platform and cried out in a loud voice to the LORD their God.

⁵Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting:Blessed be Your glorious name,and may it be exaltedabove all blessing and praise.

⁶You alone are the LORD.You created the heavens,the highest heavens with all their host,the earth and all that is on it,the seas and all that is in them.You give life to all things,and the host of heaven worships You.

⁷You are the LORD,the God who chose Abram,who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeansand gave him the name Abraham.

⁸You found his heart faithful before You,and made a covenant with himto give the land of the Canaanites and Hittites,of the Amorites and Perizzites,of the Jebusites and Girgashites—to give it to his descendants.You have kept Your promise,because You are righteous.

⁹You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt;You heard their cry at the Red Sea.

¹⁰You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,all his officials, and all the people of his land,for You knew they had acted with arroganceagainst our fathers.You made a name for Yourselfthat endures to this day.

¹¹You divided the sea before them,and they crossed through it on dry ground.You hurled their pursuers into the depthslike a stone into raging waters.

¹²You led them with a pillar of cloud by dayand a pillar of fire by night,to light for them the wayin which they should travel.

¹³You came down on Mount Sinaiand spoke with them from heaven.You gave them just ordinances, true laws,and good statutes and commandments.

¹⁴You revealed to them Your holy Sabbathand gave them commandments and statutes and lawsthrough Your servant Moses.

¹⁵In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven;in their thirst You brought them water from the rock.You told them to go in and possess the landthat You had sworn to give them.

¹⁶But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-neckedand did not obey Your commandments.

¹⁷They refused to listen and failed to rememberthe wonders You performed among them.They stiffened their necks and appointed a leaderto return them to their bondage in Egypt.But You are a forgiving God,gracious and compassionate,slow to anger and rich in loving devotion,and You did not forsake them.

¹⁸Even when they cast for themselvesan image of a calf and said,‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’and when they committed terrible blasphemies,

¹⁹You in Your great compassiondid not forsake them in the wilderness.By day the pillar of cloud never turned awayfrom guiding them on their path;and by the night the pillar of fireilluminated the way they should go.

²⁰You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them.You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths,and You gave them water for their thirst.

²¹For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness,so that they lacked nothing.Their clothes did not wear outand their feet did not swell.

²²You gave them kingdoms and peoplesand allotted to them every corner of the land.So they took the land of Sihonking of Heshbonand of Og king of Bashan.

²³You multiplied their descendantslike the stars of heavenand brought them to the landYou had told their fathers to enter and possess.

²⁴So their descendants went in and possessed the land;You subdued before them the Canaanites dwelling in the land.You delivered into their hands the kings and peoples of the land,to do with them as they wished.

²⁵They captured fortified cities and fertile landand took houses full of all goods,wells already dug,vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance.So they ate and were filled;they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.

²⁶But they were disobedient and rebelled against You;they flung Your law behind their backs.They killed Your prophets,who had admonished them to return to You.They committed terrible blasphemies.

²⁷So You delivered them into the handsof enemies who oppressed them,and in their time of distress they cried out to You.From heaven You heard them,and in Your great compassion You gave them delivererswho saved them from the hands of their enemies.

²⁸But as soon as they had rest,they again did evil in Your sight.So You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies,who had dominion over them.When they cried out to You again,You heard from heaven,and You delivered them many timesin Your compassion.

²⁹You admonished them to turn back to Your law,but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments.They sinned against Your ordinances,by which a man will live if he practices them.They turned a stubborn shoulder;they stiffened their necks and would not obey.

³⁰You were patient with them for many years,and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets.Yet they would not listen,so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.

³¹But in Your great compassion,You did not put an end to them;nor did You forsake them,for You are a gracious and compassionate God.

³²So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome Godwho keeps His gracious covenant,do not view lightly all the hardshipthat has come upon us,and upon our kings and leaders,our priests and prophets,our ancestors and all Your people,from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.

³³You are just in all that has befallen us,because You have acted faithfully,while we have acted wickedly.

³⁴Our kings and leaders and priests and fathersdid not obey Your lawor listen to Your commandmentsand warnings that You gave them.

³⁵For even while they were in their kingdom,with the abundant goodnessthat You had given them,and in the spacious and fertile landthat You had set before them,they would not serve Youor turn from their wicked ways.

³⁶So here we are today as slavesin the land You gave our fathers to enjoy its fruit and goodness—here we are as slaves!

³⁷Its abundant harvest goes to the kingsYou have set over us because of our sins.And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please.We are in great distress.

³⁸In view of all this, we make a binding agreement, putting it in writing and sealing it with the names ofour leaders, Levites, and priests.”

Israel Demands a King

¹When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judgesover Israel.

²The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba.

³But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside toward dishonest gain, accepting bribes and perverting justice.

⁴So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.

⁵“Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”

⁶But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD.

⁷And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.

⁸Just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.

⁹Now listen to their voice; but you must solemnly warn them and show them the manner of the king who will reign over them.”

Samuel’s Warning

¹⁰So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king.

¹¹He said, “This will be the manner of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them to serve his own chariots and horses, and to run in front of his chariots.

¹²He will appoint some for himself as commanders of thousands and of fifties, and others to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

¹³And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.

¹⁴He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his servants.

¹⁵He will take a tenth of your grain and grape harvest and give it to his officials and servants.

¹⁶And he will take your menservants and maidservants and your best cattleand donkeys and put them to his own use.

¹⁷He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.

¹⁸When that day comes, you will beg for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you on that day.”

God Grants the Request

¹⁹Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.

²⁰Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.”

²¹Samuel listened to all the words of the people and repeated them in the hearing of the LORD.

²²“Listen to their voice,” the LORD said to Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.”Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Everyone must go back to his city.”

Samuel’s Farewell Address

¹Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to your voice in all that you have said to me, and I have set over you a king.

²Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.

³Here I am. Bear witness against me before the LORD and before His anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated or oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe and closed my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore itto you.”

⁴“You have not cheated us or oppressed us,” they replied, “nor have you taken anything from the hand of man.”

⁵Samuel said to them, “The LORD is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.”“He is a witness,” they replied.

⁶Then Samuel said to the people, “The LORD is the One whoappointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.

⁷Now present yourselves, so that I may confront you before the LORD with all the righteous acts He has done for you and your fathers.

⁸When Jacob went to Egypt,your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He sent them Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

⁹But they forgot the LORD their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor,and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them.

¹⁰Then they cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and Ashtoreths. Now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, that we may serve You.’

¹¹So the LORD sent Jerubbaal,Barak,Jephthah, and Samuel,and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt securely.

¹²But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’—even though the LORD your God was your king.

¹³Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you requested. Behold, the LORD has placed a king over you.

¹⁴If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and if you do not rebel against the command of the LORD, and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the LORD your God, then all will be well.

¹⁵But if you disobey the LORD and rebel against His command, then the hand of the LORD will be against you as it was against your fathers.

¹⁶Now, therefore, present yourselves and see this great thing that the LORD will do before your eyes.

¹⁷Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what a great evil you have committed in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king.”

¹⁸So Samuel called to the LORD, and on that day the LORD sent thunder and rain.As a result, all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.

¹⁹They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.”

²⁰“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “Even though you have committed all this evil, do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.

²¹Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.

²²Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own.

²³As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. And I will continue to teach you the good and right way.

²⁴Above all, fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you.

²⁵But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”

The LORD Will Not Forget His People

¹O LORD, God of vengeance,O God of vengeance, shine forth.

²Rise up, O Judge of the earth;render a reward to the proud.

³How long will the wicked, O LORD,how long will the wicked exult?

⁴They pour out arrogant words;all workers of iniquity boast.

⁵They crush Your people, O LORD;they oppress Your heritage.

⁶They kill the widow and the foreigner;they murder the fatherless.

⁷They say, “The LORD does not see;the God of Jacob pays no heed.”

⁸Take notice, O senseless among the people!O fools, when will you be wise?

⁹He who affixed the ear, can He not hear?He who formed the eye, can He not see?

¹⁰He who admonishes the nations, does He not discipline?He who teaches man, does He lack knowledge?

¹¹The LORD knows the thoughts of man,that they are futile.

¹²Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD,and teach from Your law,

¹³to grant him relief from days of trouble,until a pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴For the LORD will not forsake His people;He will never abandon His heritage.

¹⁵Surely judgment will again be righteous,and all the upright in heart will follow it.

¹⁶Who will rise up for me against the wicked?Who will stand for me against the workers of iniquity?

¹⁷Unless the LORD had been my helper,I would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.

¹⁸If I say, “My foot is slipping,”Your loving devotion, O LORD, supports me.

¹⁹When anxiety overwhelms me,Your consolation delights my soul.

²⁰Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree?

²¹They band together against the righteousand condemn the innocent to death.

²²But the LORD has been my stronghold,and my God is my rock of refuge.

²³He will bring upon them their own iniquityand destroy them for their wickedness.The LORD our God will destroy them.