Samuel’s Farewell Address

1 And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have obeyed ⁿyour voice in all that you have said to me ^oand have made a king over you. 2 And now, behold, the king ^pwalks before you, ^qand I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. 3 Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before ^rhis anointed. ^sWhose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me¹ and I will restore it to you.” 4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.” 5 And he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and ^rhis anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything ^tin my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”

6 And Samuel said to the people, ^u“The Lord is witness,² who appointed Moses and Aaron and 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 deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. 8 ^vWhen Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them,^{3 w}then your fathers cried out to the Lord and ^xthe Lord sent Moses and Aaron, ^ywho brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. 9 But ^zthey forgot the Lord their God. ^aAnd he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor,^{4 b}and into the hand of the Philistines, ^cand into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. 10 ^dAnd they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord ^eand have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now ^fdeliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’ 11 And the Lord sent ^gJerubbaal ^hand Barak^{5 i}and Jephthah and ^jSamuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety. 12 And when you saw that ^kNahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, ^lyou said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ ^mwhen the Lord your God was your king. 13 And now ⁿbehold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, ^othe Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will ^pfear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. 15 But ^qif you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then ^rthe hand of the Lord will be against you and ^syour king.⁶ 16 Now therefore ^tstand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. 17 ^uIs it not wheat harvest today? ^vI will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that ^wyour wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” 18 So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, ^xand all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

19 And all the people said to Samuel, ^y“Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet ^zdo not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 And ^zdo not turn aside after ^aempty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22 ^bFor the Lord will not forsake his people, ^cfor his great name’s sake, because ^dit has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing ^eto pray for you, ^fand I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 ^gOnly fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider ^hwhat great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, ⁱyou shall be swept away, ^jboth you and your king.”

1 Brothers,¹ my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that ^bthey have a zeal for God, ^cbut not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of ^dthe righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For ^eChrist is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.²

The Message of Salvation to All

5 For ^fMoses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that ^gthe person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But ^hthe righteousness based on faith says, ⁱ“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the ^jabyss?’” (that is, ^kto bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? ^l“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if ^myou confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and ⁿbelieve in your heart ^othat God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, ^p“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 ^qFor there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; ^rfor the same Lord is Lord of all, ^sbestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For ^t“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him ^uof whom they have never heard?³ And how are they to hear ^vwithout someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ^w“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But ^xthey have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ^y“Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So ^zfaith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,

20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

21 But of Israel he says, ^g“All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Judgment on Ammon

1 ^aConcerning the Ammonites.

Thus says the Lord:

6 “But ⁿafterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the Lord.”

Judgment on Edom

7 Concerning ^oEdom.

Thus says the Lord of hosts:

12 For thus says the Lord: ^z“If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, ^awill you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink. 13 ^bFor I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, that ^cBozrah shall become ^da horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.”

17 ^h“Edom shall become a horror. ⁱEveryone who passes by it will be horrified ⁱand will hiss because of all its disasters. 18 ^jAs when Sodom and Gomorrah and their ^kneighboring cities were overthrown, says the Lord, ^lno man shall dwell there, ^lno man shall sojourn in her. 19 ^mBehold, ⁿlike a lion coming up from ^othe jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make him⁴ run away from her. And I will appoint over her whomever I choose. ^pFor who is like me? ^qWho will summon me? ^rWhat shepherd can stand before me? 20 Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against ^sEdom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of ^tTeman: ^uEven the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away. Surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 21 At the sound of their fall ^vthe earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. 22 Behold, ^wone shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against ^xBozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart ^yof a woman in her birth pains.”

Judgment on Damascus

23 Concerning ^zDamascus:

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

28 Concerning ⁱKedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down.

Judgment on Elam

34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning ^vElam, in the beginning of the reign of ^wZedekiah king of Judah.

35 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will break ^xthe bow of ^vElam, the mainstay of their might. 36 And I will bring upon ^vElam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. And I will scatter them to all those winds, and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of ^vElam shall not come. 37 I will ^yterrify ^vElam before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, ^zmy fierce anger, declares the Lord. ^aI will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them, 38 and I will set my throne in ^vElam and destroy their king and officials, declares the Lord.

39 “But in the latter days ^bI will restore the fortunes of ^vElam, declares the Lord.”

I Will Bless the Lord

Of David.

The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation

Of David.