HAFTARAT KORACH - Samuel 11:14-12:22

11  ¹⁴Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there inaugurate the monarchy.” ¹⁵So all the people went to Gilgal, and there at Gilgal they declared Saul king before the Lord. They offered sacrifices of well-being there before the Lord; and Saul and all the men of Israel held a great celebration there.

12  Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have yielded to you in all you have asked of me and have set a king over you. ²Henceforth the king will be your leader.
“As for me, I have grown old and gray—but my sons are still with you—and I have been your leader from my youth to this day. ³Here I am! Testify against me, in the presence of the Lord and in the presence of His anointed one: Whose ox have I taken, or whose ass have I taken? Whom have I defrauded or whom have I robbed? From whom have I taken a bribe to look the other way? I will return it to you.” ⁴They responded, “You have not defrauded us, and you have not robbed us, and you have taken nothing from anyone.” ⁵He said to them, “The Lord then is witness, and His anointed is witness, to your admission this day that you have found nothing in my possession.” They responded, “He is!”

⁶Samuel said to the people, “The Lord [is witness], He who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt. ⁷Come, stand before the Lord while I cite against you all the kindnesses that the Lord has done to you and your fathers.gh the Lord your God is your King.

¹³“Well, the Lord has set a king over you! Here is the king that you have chosen, that you have asked for.

¹⁴“If you will revere the Lord, worship Him, and obey Him, and will not flout the Lord’s command, if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, [well and good]. ¹⁵But if you do not obey the Lord and you flout the Lord’s command, the hand of the Lord will strike you as it did your fathers.

¹⁶“Now stand by and see the marvelous thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. ¹⁷It is the season of the wheat harvest. I will pray to the Lord and He will send thunder and rain; then you will take thought and realize what a wicked thing you did in the sight of the Lord when you asked for a king.”

¹⁸Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel. ¹⁹The people all said to Samuel, “Intercede for your servants with the Lord your God that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins the wickedness of asking for a king.” ²⁰But Samuel said to the people, “Have no fear. You have, indeed, done all those wicked things. Do not, however, turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹Do not turn away to follow worthless things, which can neither profit nor save but are worthless. ²²For the sake of His great name, the Lord will never abandon His people, seeing that the Lord undertook to make you His people.