1 Samuel 12:2

Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children’s children—

They said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

Don’t reject me in my old age. Don’t forsake me when my strength fails.

You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.

He said to them, “I am one hundred twenty years old today. I can no more go out and come in. Yahweh has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’

Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know Yahweh.

The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised Yahweh’s offering.

David struck also Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River.

He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’ ”

They were scattered, because there was no shepherd. They became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd.

He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.

Jesus came out, saw a great multitude, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you can’t follow now, but you will follow afterwards.”

Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.

He made the basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, out of the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.

that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.”

As for your donkeys who were lost three days ago, don’t set your mind on them; for they have been found. For whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you, and for all your father’s house?”

Now therefore see the king whom you have chosen, and whom you have asked for. Behold, Yahweh has set a king over you.

When the children of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men.

Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of yours?”

he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.

Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.

For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.

But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to remember these things even after my departure.

Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, that the congregation of Yahweh may not be as sheep which have no shepherd.”

Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him.” Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.

But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.

“Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it.

His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel out and in. Yahweh said to you, ‘You will be shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be prince over Israel.’ ”

His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, “Why have you done so?” and he was also a very handsome man; and he was born after Absalom.

Now, Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in.

He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’ ”

Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us. We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

in whose hands is wickedness, their right hand is full of bribes.

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.

Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.

They will still produce fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and green,

One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts.

Discipline your son, for there is hope; don’t be a willing party to his death.

The rod of correction gives wisdom, but a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.

Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths. So I am profaned among them.

For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.

Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”

You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

“Of the men therefore who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

Afterward they asked for a king, and God gave to them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

(but how could someone who doesn’t know how to rule one’s own house take care of God’s assembly?)

I command you in the sight of God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the chosen angels, that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality.

I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘You shall eat no fat, of bull, or sheep, or goat.

“ ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.

The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land was subdued before them.

He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.

“Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way.

He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts. They had thirty cities, which are called Havvoth Jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. They did this to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh.

Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’

For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them.

Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son!” He said, “Here I am.”

Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned himself, he defeated them.

You know Abner the son of Ner. He came to deceive you, and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you do.”

The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahweh will return your wickedness on your own head.

I put my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.

Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come.

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep?

They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity.

“Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

But he answered, “I wasn’t sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone.

For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.

Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.

For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.

because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.