¹ `Thou dost not lift up a vain report; thou dost not put thy hand with a wicked man to be a violent witness.

² `Thou art not after many to evil, nor dost thou testify concerning a strife, to turn aside after many to cause [others] to turn aside;

³ and a poor man thou dost not honour in his strife.

⁴ `When thou meetest thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou dost certainly turn it back to him;

⁵ when thou seest the ass of him who is hating thee crouching under its burden, then thou hast ceased from leaving [it] to it -- thou dost certainly leave [it] with him.

⁶ `Thou dost not turn aside the judgment of thy needy one in his strife;

⁷ from a false matter thou dost keep far off, and an innocent and righteous man thou dost not slay; for I do not justify a wicked man.

⁸ `And a bribe thou dost not take; for the bribe bindeth the open-[eyed], and perverteth the words of the righteous.

⁹ `And a sojourner thou dost not oppress, and ye -- ye have known the soul of the sojourner, for sojourners ye have been in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ `And six years thou dost sow thy land, and hast gathered its increase;

¹¹ and the seventh thou dost release it, and hast left it, and the needy of thy people have eaten, and their leaving doth the beast of the field eat; so dost thou to thy vineyard -- to thine olive-yard.

¹² `Six days thou dost do thy work, and on the seventh day thou dost rest, so that thine ox and thine ass doth rest, and the son of thine handmaid and the sojourner is refreshed;

¹³ and in all that which I have said unto you ye do take heed; and the name of other gods ye do not mention; it is not heard on thy mouth.

¹⁴ `Three times thou dost keep a feast to Me in a year;

¹⁵ the Feast of Unleavened things thou dost keep; seven days thou dost eat Unleavened things, as I have commanded thee, at the time appointed [in] the month of Abib; for in it thou hast come forth out of Egypt, and ye do not appear [in] My presence empty;

¹⁶ and the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of thy works which thou sowest in the field; and the Feast of the In-Gathering, in the outgoing of the year, in thy gathering thy works out of the field.

¹⁷ `Three times in a year do all thy males appear before the face of the Lord Jehovah.

¹⁸ `Thou dost not sacrifice on a fermented thing the blood of My sacrifice, and the fat of My festival doth not remain till morning;

¹⁹ the beginning of the first-fruits of thy ground thou dost bring into the house of Jehovah thy God; thou dost not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

²⁰ `Lo, I am sending a messenger before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee in unto the place which I have prepared;

²¹ be watchful because of his presence, and hearken to his voice, rebel not against him, for he beareth not with your transgression, for My name [is] in his heart;

²² for, if thou diligently hearken to his voice, and hast done all that which I speak, then I have been at enmity with thine enemies, and have distressed those distressing thee.

²³ `For My messenger goeth before thee, and hath brought thee in unto the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and I have cut them off.

²⁴ `Thou dost not bow thyself to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their doings, but dost utterly devote them, and thoroughly break their standing pillars.

²⁵ `And ye have served Jehovah your God, and He hath blessed thy bread and thy water, and I have turned aside sickness from thine heart;

²⁶ there is not a miscarrying and barren one in thy land; the number of thy days I fulfil:

²⁷ My terror I send before thee, and I have put to death all the people among whom thou comest, and I have given the neck of all thine enemies unto thee.

²⁸ `And I have sent the hornet before thee, and it hath cast out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee;

²⁹ I cast them not out from before thee in one year, lest the land be a desolation, and the beast of the field hath multiplied against thee;

³⁰ little [by] little I cast them out from before thee, till thou art fruitful, and hast inherited the land.

³¹ `And I have set thy border from the Red Sea, even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the River: for I give into your hand the inhabitants of the land, and thou hast cast them out from before thee;

³² thou dost not make a covenant with them, and with their gods;

³³ they do not dwell in thy land, lest they cause thee to sin against Me when thou servest their gods, when it becometh a snare to thee.'

¹ And it cometh to pass, when Samuel [is] aged, that he maketh his sons judges over Israel.

² And the name of his first-born son is Joel, and the name of his second Abiah, judges in Beer-Sheba:

³ and his sons have not walked in his ways, and turn aside after the dishonest gain, and take a bribe, and turn aside judgment.

⁴ And all the elders of Israel gather themselves together, and come in unto Samuel to Ramath,

⁵ and say unto him, `Lo, thou hast become aged, and thy sons have not walked in thy ways; now, appoint to us a king, to judge us, like all the nations.'

⁶ And the thing is evil in the eyes of Samuel, when they have said, `Give to us a king to judge us;' and Samuel prayeth unto Jehovah.

⁷ And Jehovah saith unto Samuel, `Hearken to the voice of the people, to all that they say unto thee, for thee they have not rejected, but Me they have rejected, from reigning over them.

⁸ According to all the works that they have done from the day of My bringing them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, when they forsake Me, and serve other gods -- so they are doing also to thee.

⁹ And now, hearken to their voice; only, surely thou dost certainly protest to them, and hast declared to them the custom of the king who doth reign over them.'

¹⁰ And Samuel speaketh all the words of Jehovah unto the people who are asking from him a king,

¹¹ and saith, `This is the custom of the king who doth reign over you: Your sons he doth take, and hath appointed for himself among his chariots, and among his horsemen, and they have run before his chariots;

¹² also to appoint for himself heads of thousands, and heads of fifties; also to plow his plowing, and to reap his reaping; and to make instruments of his war, and instruments of his charioteer.

¹³ `And your daughters he doth take for perfumers, and for cooks, and for bakers;

¹⁴ and your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive-yards -- the best -- he doth take, and hath given to his servants.

¹⁵ And your seed and your vineyards he doth tithe, and hath given to his eunuchs, and to his servants.

¹⁶ And your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your young men -- the best, and your asses, he doth take, and hath prepared for his own work;

¹⁷ your flock he doth tithe, and ye are to him for servants.

¹⁸ And ye have cried out in that day because of the king whom ye have chosen for yourselves, and Jehovah doth not answer you in that day.'

¹⁹ And the people refuse to hearken to the voice of Samuel, and say, `Nay, but a king is over us,

²⁰ and we have been, even we, like all the nations; and our king hath judged us, and gone out before us, and fought our battles.'

²¹ And Samuel heareth all the words of the people, and speaketh them in the ears of Jehovah;

²² and Jehovah saith unto Samuel, `Hearken to their voice, and thou hast caused to reign over them a king.' And Samuel saith unto the men of Israel, `Go ye each to his city.'