1. And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me and have made a king over you.
2. And now, behold, your king walks before you. I am old and grayheaded, and, behold, my sons are with you, and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
3. Behold, here I am; witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed. If I have taken anyone’s ox or if I have taken anyone’s ass or if I have defrauded anyone or if I have oppressed anyone or if I have received a bribe {Heb. ransom} from anyone to blind my eyes, I will restore it you.
4. And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us nor oppressed us; neither hast thou taken anything of any man’s hand.
5. And he said unto them, The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day that ye have not found anything in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.
6. Then Samuel said unto the people, The Lord is he who advanced Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
7. Now, therefore, stand still that I may contend with you before the Lord of all the righteousnesses of the Lord which he did to you and to your fathers.
8. After Jacob had entered into Egypt and your fathers cried unto the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron who brought forth your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.
9. And when they forgot the Lord their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, 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.