1. Then Samuel said to all Israel, “Look, I have listened to your voice regarding all that you have said to me, so I have set a king over you.
2. And so then here is the king walking about before you. Now I am old and gray, but my sons (look at them!) are with you; and I have walked about before you from my youth until this day.
3. Here I am! Testify against me before Yahweh and before his anointed one! Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I exploited? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe, that I may shut my eyes regarding him?–then I will restore it to you.”
4. Then they said, “You have not exploited us or oppressed us, and you have not taken anything from the hand of anyone.”
5. So he said to them, “Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed one is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” Then they said, “He is witness.”
6. Then Samuel said to the people, “Yahweh is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt.
7. So then take your stand, so that I may judge you before Yahweh with regard to all the deeds of justice of Yahweh that he performed with both you and your ancestors.
8. “When Jacob came to Egypt, your ancestors cried out to Yahweh, so he sent Moses and Aaron, and they brought your ancestors out from Egypt and settled them in this place.
9. But they forgot Yahweh their God, so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the hosts of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.