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1 Samuel 12

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1 And Samuel said to all Israel, Behold, I have obeyed your voice as·​·to all that you said to me, and have made a king to reign over you.

2 And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am·​·old and gray-haired; and, behold, my sons are with you; and I have walked before you from my youth even·​·to this day.

3 Behold me; answer against me in·​·front·​·of Jehovah and in·​·front·​·of His anointed: whose ox have I taken? And whose donkey have I taken? And whom have I oppressed? With whom have I clashed? And from whose hand have I taken an atonement that I should hide my eye against him? And I will return it to you.

4 And they said, Thou hast not oppressed us nor clashed with us, nor taken anything from the hand of a man.

5 And he said to them, Jehovah is a witness against you and His anointed is witness this day, that you have· not ·found anything in my hand. And they said, He is witness.

6 And Samuel said unto the people, It is Jehovah who made Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt.

7 And now, stand·​·forth, and I will plead* with you before Jehovah, as to all the justice of Jehovah, which He did with you and your fathers,

8 when Jacob had come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto Jehovah, and Jehovah sent Moses and Aaron and brought· your fathers ·out from Egypt, and made them dwell in this place.

9 And they forgot Jehovah their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought with them.

10 And they cried to Jehovah, and said, We have sinned, for we have forsaken Jehovah, and have served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth; but now rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve Thee.

11 And Jehovah sent Jerubbaal*, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and rescued you from the hand of your enemies all around, and you dwelt securely.

12 And you saw that Nahash, the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, and you said unto me, No, for a king shall reign over us; when Jehovah your God was your king.

13 And now, behold the king you have chosen, whom you asked for; and, behold, Jehovah has given a king over you.

14 If you will fear Jehovah, and serve Him, and obey His voice, and not rebel against the mouth of Jehovah, then both you, and also the king who reigns over you, shall follow after Jehovah your God.

15 But if you will not obey the voice of Jehovah, but rebel against the mouth of Jehovah, then shall the hand of Jehovah be against you and against your fathers.

16 Now also, stand and see this great thing which Jehovah will do before your eyes.

17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to Jehovah, and He will give voices and rain, that you may know and see that your evil is much which you have done in the eyes of Jehovah, to ask for yourselves a king.

18 And Samuel called unto Jehovah, and Jehovah gave voices* and rain that day; and all the people feared Jehovah and Samuel exceedingly.

19 And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants to Jehovah thy God, that we not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves.

20 And Samuel said to the people, Fear not; you have done all this evil, only turn· not ·aside from following after Jehovah and serving Jehovah with all your heart;

21 and turn· not ·aside, to follow after the things that are void, which do not profit nor rescue; for they are void.

22 For Jehovah will not abandon His people, for the sake of His great name; for Jehovah is·​·content to make you a people for Him.

23 Also as for me, far·​·be·​·it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in stopping to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and the upright way.

24 Only fear Jehovah, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for you see how He has caused great things with you.

25 But if doing·​·evil, you shall do·​·evil, both you and your king, you shall be consumed.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Servant

  

“Servant” literally means “a person who serves another," and its meaning is similar in reference to its spiritual meanings of the Bible. Our lives in their most outward form -- the physical actions we take and the thoughts and feelings directly connected to them -- are in a way “servants” to our deeper, more hidden, internal thoughts and desires. So in most cases, “servants” in the Bible represent things we're doing and thinking on that outward, external level. Servants can have good masters or evil ones, obviously, and a servant doing good work in service of an evil master is actually making the world a more evil place. So the precise meaning of a given servant in the Bible depends on the nature of the master he or she is serving. Finally, when the Bible is addressing the Lord's own spiritual development, “servant” represents the Lord's most outward aspect: the human body he inherited from Mary, with all its frailties and potential for temptation.