Previous Chapter Full Page Full Page Next Chapter

1 Samuel 12 :: New International Version (NIV)

Samuel’s Farewell Speech

1Sa 12:1

1Sa 12:1Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you.

1Sa 12:2

1Sa 12:2Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day.

1Sa 12:3

1Sa 12:3Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the LORD and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right.”

1Sa 12:4

1Sa 12:4“You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”

1Sa 12:5

1Sa 12:5Samuel said to them, “The LORD is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” “He is witness,” they said.

1Sa 12:6

1Sa 12:6Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the LORD who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt.

1Sa 12:7

1Sa 12:7Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the LORD as to all the righteous acts performed by the LORD for you and your ancestors.

1Sa 12:8

1Sa 12:8“After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the LORD for help, and the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

1Sa 12:9

1Sa 12:9“But they forgot the LORD their God; so 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.

1Sa 12:10

1Sa 12:10They cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.’

1Sa 12:11

1Sa 12:11Then the LORD sent Jerub-Baal,[fn] Barak,[fn] Jephthah and Samuel,[fn] and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.

1Sa 12:12

1Sa 12:12“But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the LORD your God was your king.

1Sa 12:13

1Sa 12:13Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the LORD has set a king over you.

1Sa 12:14

1Sa 12:14If you fear the LORD and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the LORD your God—good!

1Sa 12:15

1Sa 12:15But if you do not obey the LORD, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.

1Sa 12:16

1Sa 12:16“Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes!

1Sa 12:17

1Sa 12:17Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the LORD when you asked for a king.”

1Sa 12:18

1Sa 12:18Then Samuel called on the LORD, and that same day the LORD sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the LORD and of Samuel.

1Sa 12:19

1Sa 12:19The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”

1Sa 12:20

1Sa 12:20“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.

1Sa 12:21

1Sa 12:21Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.

1Sa 12:22

1Sa 12:22For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.

1Sa 12:23

1Sa 12:23As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.

1Sa 12:24

1Sa 12:24But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

1Sa 12:25

1Sa 12:25Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.”
See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NIV Footnotes
Also called Gideon
Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac; Hebrew Bedan
Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac Samson
Translation Copyright Logo

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.


See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.

Translations available: King James Version, New King James Version, New Living Translation, New International Version, English Standard Version, Christian Standard Bible, New American Standard Bible 2020, New American Standard Bible 1995, Legacy Standard Bible 2021, New English Translation, Revised Standard Version, American Standard Version, Young's Literal Translation, Darby Translation, Webster's Bible, Hebrew Names Version, Reina-Valera 1960, Latin Vulgate, Westminster Leningrad Codex, Septuagint, Morphological Greek New Testament, and Textus Receptus.