1 And Samuel said to all Israel, You see that I have given ear to everything you said to me, and have made a king over you. 2 And now, see, the king is before you: and I am old and grey-headed, and my sons are with you: I have been living before your eyes from my early days till now. 3 Here I am: give witness against me before the Lord and before the man on whom he has put the holy oil: whose ox or ass have I taken? to whom have I been untrue? who has been crushed down by me? from whose hand have I taken a price for the blinding of my eyes? I will give it all back to you. 4 And they said, You have never been untrue to us or cruel to us; you have taken nothing from any man. 5 Then he said, The Lord is witness against you, and the man on whom he has put the holy oil is witness this day that you have seen no wrong in me. And they said, He is witness. 6 And Samuel said to the people, The Lord is witness, who gave authority to Moses and Aaron, and who took your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7 Keep your places now, while I take up the argument with you before the Lord, and give you the story of the righteousness of the Lord, which he has made clear by his acts to you and to your fathers. 8 When Jacob and his sons had come into Egypt, and were crushed by the Egyptians, the prayers of your fathers came up to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who took your fathers out of Egypt, and he put them into this place. 9 But they were false to the Lord their God, and he gave them up into the hands of Sisera, captain of the army of Jabin, king of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the king of Moab, who made war against them. 10 Then crying out to the Lord, they said, We have done evil, because we have been turned away from the Lord, worshipping the Baals and the Astartes: but now, make us safe from those who are against us and we will be your servants. 11 So the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and took you out of the power of those who were fighting against you on every side, and made you safe. 12 And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, was coming against you, you said to me, No more of this; we will have a king for our ruler: when the Lord your God was your king. 13 Here, then, is the king marked out by you: the Lord has put a king over you. 14 If in the fear of the Lord you are his servants, hearing his voice and not going against the orders of the Lord, but being true to the Lord your God, you and the king ruling over you, then all will be well: 15 But if you do not give ear to the voice of the Lord, but go against his orders, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and against your king for your destruction, as it was against your fathers. 16 Now keep where you are and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. 17 Is it not now the time of the grain cutting? My cry will go up to the Lord and he will send thunder and rain: so that you may see and be conscious of your great sin which you have done in the eyes of the Lord in desiring a king for yourselves. 18 So Samuel made prayer to the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people were in fear of the Lord and of Samuel. 19 And all the people said to Samuel, Make prayer for us to the Lord your God so that death may not overtake us: for in addition to all our sins we have done this evil, in desiring a king. 20 Then Samuel said to the people, Have no fear: truly you have done evil, but do not be turned away from the Lord; be his servants with all your heart; 21 And do not go from the right way turning to those false gods in which there is no profit and no salvation, for they are false. 22 For the Lord will not give his people up, because of the honour of his name; for it was the Lord's pleasure to make of you a people for himself. 23 And as for me, never will I go against the orders of the Lord by giving up my prayers for you: but I will go on teaching you the good and right way. 24 Only go in the fear of the Lord, and be his true servants with all your heart, keeping in mind what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do evil, destruction will overtake you and your king.
1 Samuel · Bible in Basic English
1 Samuel 12 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Nahash
King of the Ammonites who besieged Jabesh-gilead and demanded the right eye of every man there until Saul defeated him; his later kindness to David is recalled when David consoles…
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 11:1; 1 Samuel 11:2; 1 Samuel 12:12
Cross references (25)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Samuel 10:24; 1 Samuel 11:14–15; 1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Samuel 8:19–22; 1 Samuel 8:5–8
- 2 1 Samuel 8:5; 1 Samuel 8:20; 1 Samuel 8:1; Numbers 27:17; 1 Samuel 8:3
- 3 Acts 20:33; Numbers 16:15; Deuteronomy 16:19; 1 Samuel 24:6; 1 Peter 5:2
- 4 3 John 12; Psalm 37:5–6; Daniel 6:4
- 5 Exodus 22:4; Acts 24:20; Acts 23:9; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 4:4
- 6 Micah 6:4; Exodus 6:26; Psalm 99:6; Psalm 77:19–20; Psalm 105:41
- 7 Isaiah 1:18; Acts 17:3; Micah 6:1–5; Isaiah 5:3–4; Ezekiel 18:25–30
- 8 Exodus 4:14–16; Exodus 2:23–24; 1 Samuel 10:18; Genesis 46:5–7; Exodus 3:9–10
- 9 Judges 4:2; Judges 10:7; Judges 3:12; Judges 13:1; Deuteronomy 32:18
- 10 Judges 2:13; Judges 10:10; Judges 3:7; Judges 10:15–16; Judges 3:9
- 11 Judges 6:32; Judges 4:6; Judges 6:14; Judges 8:35; 1 Samuel 7:13
- 12 Judges 8:23; 1 Samuel 8:5–7; Genesis 17:7; 1 Samuel 10:19; 1 Samuel 11:1–2
- 13 Hosea 13:11; 1 Samuel 10:24; 1 Samuel 8:5; 1 Samuel 9:20; 1 Samuel 11:15
- 14 Joshua 24:14; Deuteronomy 28:1–14; Joshua 24:20; Psalm 81:12–15; Isaiah 3:10
- 15 Joshua 24:20; Isaiah 1:20; 1 Samuel 12:9; Isaiah 3:11; Leviticus 26:14–30
- 16 Exodus 14:13; Exodus 14:31; 1 Samuel 12:7; 1 Samuel 15:16
- 17 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 7:9–10; Proverbs 26:1; James 5:16–18; Psalm 99:6
- 18 Exodus 14:31; Ezra 10:9; Exodus 9:23–25; Psalm 106:12–13; Revelation 11:5–6
- 19 Exodus 9:28; 1 John 5:16; 1 Samuel 12:23; Exodus 10:17; 1 Samuel 7:5
- 20 Deuteronomy 11:16; Joshua 23:6; Psalm 101:3; Psalm 125:5; 1 Peter 3:16
- 21 Habakkuk 2:18; Jeremiah 16:19; Jeremiah 10:15; Deuteronomy 11:16; Jeremiah 14:22
- 22 Deuteronomy 14:2; Psalm 106:8; Philippians 1:6; 1 Kings 6:13; Jeremiah 14:21
- 23 Colossians 1:9; Romans 1:9; 2 Timothy 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:10; 1 Kings 8:36
- 24 Deuteronomy 10:21; Proverbs 1:7; Isaiah 5:12; Hebrews 12:29; Psalm 126:2–3
- 25 Joshua 24:20; Hosea 10:3; Deuteronomy 28:36; 1 Samuel 31:1–5; Isaiah 3:11
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
or if I have received from the hand of any a bribe or [so much as] a shoe, speak out against me, and I will restore it to you." And when the people had said to him, "Thou hast not tyrannized, neither hast thou oppressed us neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand," he called the Lord to …