1. Then Samuel addressed all Israel: “I have done as you asked and given you a king.
2. Your king is now your leader. I stand here before you—an old, gray-haired man—and my sons serve you. I have served as your leader from the time I was a boy to this very day.
3. Now testify against me in the presence of the lord and before his anointed one. Whose ox or donkey have I stolen? Have I ever cheated any of you? Have I ever oppressed you? Have I ever taken a bribe and perverted justice? Tell me and I will make right whatever I have done wrong.”
4. “No,” they replied, “you have never cheated or oppressed us, and you have never taken even a single bribe.”
5. “The lord and his anointed one are my witnesses today,” Samuel declared, “that my hands are clean.”“Yes, he is a witness,” they replied.
6. “It was the lord who appointed Moses and Aaron,” Samuel continued. “He brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt.
7. Now stand here quietly before the lord as I remind you of all the great things the lord has done for you and your ancestors.