19. They said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for us, your servants, that we may not die for having added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”
20. “Do not fear,” Samuel answered them. “You have indeed committed all this evil! Yet do not turn from the Lord, but serve him with your whole heart.
21. Do not turn aside to gods who are nothing, who cannot act and deliver. They are nothing.
22. For the sake of his own great name the Lord will not abandon his people, since the Lord has decided to make you his people.
23. As for me, far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you and to teach you the good and right way.