Text -- 1 Samuel 12:1-10 (NET)

12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have done everything you requested. I have given you a king. 12:2 Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day. 12:3 Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe so that I would overlook something? Tell me, and I will return it to you!” 12:4 They replied, “You have not wronged us or oppressed us. You have not taken anything from the hand of anyone.” 12:5 He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.” They said, “He is witness!” 12:6 Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is the one who chose Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt. 12:7 Now take your positions, so I may confront you before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors. 12:8 When Jacob entered Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the Lord. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they led your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place. 12:9 “But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s army, and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 12:10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Sa 12:1

¹ tn Heb “Look, I have listened to your voice.”

² tn Heb “to all which you said to me.”

³ tn Heb “and I have installed a king over you.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 12:3

¹ tn Heb “anointed [one].”

² tn The words “tell me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: 1Sa 12:5

¹ tn Heb “anointed [one].”

² tn Heb “that you have not found anything in my hand.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 12:6

¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 8).

NET Notes: 1Sa 12:7

¹ tn Heb “and I will enter into judgment with you” (NRSV similar); NAB “and I shall arraign you.”

² tn Heb “all the just actions which he has done with you and with your fathers.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 12:9

¹ tn Heb “sold” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera”; NLT “he let them be conquered by Sisera.”

² map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

³ tn Heb “captain of the host of Hazor.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 12:10

¹ tn Heb “and said.”

² tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural). The words “images of” are supplied in both vv. 3 and 4 for clarity.

sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. See the note on the same term in 7:3.

³ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.