The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Sh'mu'el said to all Isra'el, "Here, I have done everything you asked me to do -I have made a king over you.
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And Samuel said to all Israel, You see that I have given ear to everything you said to me, and have made a king over you.
2 There is the king, walking ahead of you; but I am old and gray-headed. There are my sons with you, and I have walked at your head from when I was a boy until today.
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And now, see, the king is before you: and I am old and grey-headed, and my sons are with you: I have been living before your eyes from my early days till now.
3 So here I am; now is the time to witness against me before ADONAI and before his anointed king. Does any of you think I have taken your ox or donkey, defrauded or oppressed you, or accepted a bribe to deprive you of justice? Tell me, and I will restore it to you."
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Here I am: give witness against me before the Lord and before the man on whom he has put the holy oil: whose ox or ass have I taken? to whom have I been untrue? who has been crushed down by me? from whose hand have I taken a price for the blinding of my eyes? I will give it all back to you.
4 They answered, "You haven't defrauded or oppressed us, and you have accepted nothing from anyone."
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And they said, You have never been untrue to us or cruel to us; you have taken nothing from any man.
5 He said, "ADONAI is witness against you, and his anointed king is witness against you today, that you have found nothing in my hands?" They replied, "He is witness."
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Then he said, The Lord is witness against you, and the man on whom he has put the holy oil is witness this day that you have seen no wrong in me. And they said, He is witness.
6 Sh'mu'el said to the people, "It was ADONAI who appointed Moshe and Aharon and who brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt.
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And Samuel said to the people, The Lord is witness, who gave authority to Moses and Aaron, and who took your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
7 Now, hold still; because I am going to enter into judgment with you before ADONAI regarding all the righteous acts of ADONAI that he did for you and your ancestors.
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Keep your places now, while I take up the argument with you before the Lord, and give you the story of the righteousness of the Lord, which he has made clear by his acts to you and to your fathers.
8 "After Ya'akov had entered Egypt, your ancestors cried to ADONAI; and ADONAI sent Moshe and Aharon, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and had them live here in this place.
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When Jacob and his sons had come into Egypt, and were crushed by the Egyptians, the prayers of your fathers came up to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who took your fathers out of Egypt, and he put them into this place.
9 But they forgot ADONAI their God; so he handed them over to Sisra, commander of the army of Hatzor, and to the P'lishtim, and to the king of Mo'av; and they fought against them.
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But they were false to the Lord their God, and he gave them up into the hands of Sisera, captain of the army of Jabin, king of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the king of Moab, who made war against them.
10 But they cried to ADONAI and said, 'We sinned by abandoning ADONAI and serving the ba'alim and 'ashtarot. But now, if you rescue us from the power of our enemies, we will serve you.'
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Then crying out to the Lord, they said, We have done evil, because we have been turned away from the Lord, worshipping the Baals and the Astartes: but now, make us safe from those who are against us and we will be your servants.
11 So ADONAI sent Yeruba'al, B'dan, Yiftach and Sh'mu'el and rescued you from the power of our enemies on every side, and you lived securely.
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So the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and took you out of the power of those who were fighting against you on every side, and made you safe.
12 When you saw that Nachash the king of the people of 'Amon was attacking you, you said to me, "No, we want a king to rule over us"- when ADONAI your God was your king.
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And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, was coming against you, you said to me, No more of this; we will have a king for our ruler: when the Lord your God was your king.
13 Now, here's the king you have chosen, the one you asked for. See, ADONAI has put a king over you.
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Here, then, is the king marked out by you: the Lord has put a king over you.
14 If you will fear ADONAI, serve him, obey what he says and not rebel against ADONAI's orders - if both you and the king ruling you remain followers of ADONAI your God - [then things will go well for you.]
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If in the fear of the Lord you are his servants, hearing his voice and not going against the orders of the Lord, but being true to the Lord your God, you and the king ruling over you, then all will be well:
15 But if you refuse to obey what ADONAI says and rebel against ADONAI's orders, then ADONAI will oppress both you and your leaders.
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But if you do not give ear to the voice of the Lord, but go against his orders, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and against your king for your destruction, as it was against your fathers.
16 "Now therefore, hold still; and see the great deed which ADONAI will perform before your very eyes.
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Now keep where you are and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes.
17 Now is wheat harvest time, isn't it? I am going to call on ADONAI to send thunder and rain. Then you will understand and see how wicked from
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Is it not now the time of the grain cutting? My cry will go up to the Lord and he will send thunder and rain: so that you may see and be conscious of your great sin which you have done in the eyes of the Lord in desiring a king for yourselves.
18 Sh'mu'elADONAI's viewpoint is the thing you have done in asking for a king."called to ADONAI, and ADONAI sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people became very much afraid of ADONAI and Sh'mu'el.
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So Samuel made prayer to the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people were in fear of the Lord and of Samuel.
19 All the people said to Sh'mu'el, "Pray to ADONAI your God for your servants, so that we won't die; because to all our other sins now we've added this evil as well, asking for a king over us."
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And all the people said to Samuel, Make prayer for us to the Lord your God so that death may not overtake us: for in addition to all our sins we have done this evil, in desiring a king.
20 Sh'mu'el answered the people, "Don't be afraid. You have indeed done all this evil; yet now, just don't turn away from following ADONAI; but serve ADONAI with all your heart.
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Then Samuel said to the people, Have no fear: truly you have done evil, but do not be turned away from the Lord; be his servants with all your heart;
21 Don't turn to the side; because then you would go after useless things that can neither help nor rescue, they are so futile.
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And do not go from the right way turning to those false gods in which there is no profit and no salvation, for they are false.
22 For the sake of his great reputation, ADONAI will not abandon his people; because it has pleased ADONAI to make you a people for himself.
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For the Lord will not give his people up, because of the honour of his name; for it was the Lord's pleasure to make of you a people for himself.
23 As for me, far be it from me to sin against ADONAI by ceasing to pray for you! Rather, I will continue instructing you in the good and right way.
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And as for me, never will I go against the orders of the Lord by giving up my prayers for you: but I will go on teaching you the good and right way.
24 Only fear ADONAI, and serve him faithfully with all your heart; for think what great things he has done for you!
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Only go in the fear of the Lord, and be his true servants with all your heart, keeping in mind what great things he has done for you.
25 However, if you insist on doing wicked things, you will be swept away - both you and your king!"
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But if you still do evil, destruction will overtake you and your king.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.