Samuel’s Farewell Address
1 And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have vobeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have wmade a king over you. 2 And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, xmy 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 his anointed. yWhose 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 zbribe 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 awitness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything bin my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.”
6 And Samuel said to the people, “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 cWhen Jacob went into Egypt, and dthe Egyptians oppressed them,3 then eyour fathers cried out to the Lord and fthe Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. 9 But they forgot the Lord their God. And he sold them ginto the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor,4 and hinto the hand of the Philistines, and iinto the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. 10 And jthey cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now kdeliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’ 11 And the Lord sent lJerubbaal and mBarak5 and nJephthah and oSamuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived pin safety. 12 And qwhen you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, ryou ssaid to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when tthe Lord your God was your king. 13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear 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 uif you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.6 16 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. 17 vIs it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, wwhich 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 do not zturn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot aprofit or deliver, for they are bempty. 22 For the Lord will not cforsake his people, dfor his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to emake you a people for himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”
Paul Before the Council
30 But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
1 And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all sgood conscience up to this day.” 2 And the thigh priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him uon the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you vwhitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me waccording to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” 4 Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” 5 And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, x‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”
6 Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, yI am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the zhope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” 7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no aresurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find bnothing wrong in this man. cWhat if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” 10 And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.
11 The following dnight the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must etestify also in Rome.”
