1. Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you.
2. Now, behold, the king walks before you. I am old and gray-headed. Behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth to this day.
3. Here I am. Witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.”
4. They said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything from anyone’s hand.”
5. He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.”They said, “He is witness.”
6. Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
7. Now therefore stand still, that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers.
8. “When Jacob had come into Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt, and made them to dwell in this place.