CHAPTER LVII.

LVII. And Samuel sent and gathered all the (1 Sam. 12:1-4) people, and said unto them: Lo, ye and your king are here, and I am betwixt you, as the Lord commanded me. 2. And therefore I say unto you, before the face of your king, even as my lord Moses; the servant of God, said unto your fathers in the wilderness, when the synagogue of Core arose against him: Ye know that I have not taken aught of you, neither have I wronged any of you; and because certain lied at that time and said, Thou didst take, the earth swallowed them up. 3. Now, therefore, do ye whom the Lord hath not punished answer before the Lord and before his anointed, if it be for this cause that ye have required a king, because I have evil entreated you, and the Lord shall be your witness. But if, now the word of the Lord is fulfilled, I am free, and my father's house. 4. And the people answered: We are thy servants and our king with us; because we are unworthy to be judged by a prophet, therefore said we: Appoint a king over us to judge us.

And all the people and the king wept with a great lamentation, and said: Let Samuel the prophet live. And when the king was appointed they offered sacrifices unto the Lord.

5. And after that Saul fought with the Philistines one year, and the battle prospered greatly.