19 The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”

20 “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. 22 For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. 23 As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. 24 But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.

19 And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king. 20 And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart; 21 And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. 22 For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. 23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: 24 Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.

19 “Pray to the Lord your God for us, or we will die!” they all said to Samuel. “For now we have added to our sins by asking for a king.”

20 “Don’t be afraid,” Samuel reassured them. “You have certainly done wrong, but make sure now that you worship the Lord with all your heart, and don’t turn your back on him. 21 Don’t go back to worshiping worthless idols that cannot help or rescue you—they are totally useless! 22 The Lord will not abandon his people, because that would dishonor his great name. For it has pleased the Lord to make you his very own people.

23 “As for me, I will certainly not sin against the Lord by ending my prayers for you. And I will continue to teach you what is good and right. 24 But be sure to fear the Lord and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you.

19 And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves.”

20 Then Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. 22 For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.

19 They said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for us, your servants! Don’t let us die! We’ve added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.”

20 Samuel answered, “Don’t be afraid. It’s true that you did wrong, but don’t turn away from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 Idols are of no use, so don’t worship them. They can’t help you or save you. They are useless! 22 For his own sake, the Lord won’t leave his people. Instead, he was pleased to make you his own people. 23 I will surely not stop praying for you, because that would be sinning against the Lord. I will teach you what is good and right. 24 You must honor the Lord and truly serve him with all your heart. Remember the wonderful things he did for you!

19 And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto Jehovah thy God, that we die not; for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king. 20 And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not; ye have indeed done all this evil; yet turn not aside from following Jehovah, but serve Jehovah with all your heart: 21 and turn ye not aside; for then would ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain. 22 For Jehovah will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it hath pleased Jehovah to make you a people unto himself. 23 Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear Jehovah, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things he hath done for you.

19 And all the people said to Samuel, Pray to Jehovah thy God for thy servants, that we die not; for we have added to all our sins the wickedness to ask for ourselves a king. 20 And Samuel said to the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness; yet turn not aside from following Jehovah, and serve Jehovah with all your heart; 21 and turn ye not aside; for it would be after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. 22 For Jehovah will not cast away his people for his great name’s sake; because it has pleased Jehovah to make you his people. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you; and I will teach you the good and right way. 24 Only, fear Jehovah, and serve him in truth, with all your heart; for see how great things he has done for you.

19 All the people pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for us so that we will not die. We have added ⸤another⸥ evil thing to all our other sins by asking for a king.” 

20 “Don’t be afraid,” Samuel told the people. “You did do all these evil things. But don’t turn away from the Lord. Instead, serve the Lord wholeheartedly. 21 Don’t turn away to follow other gods. They can’t help or rescue you, because they don’t exist. 22 For the sake of his great name, the Lord will not abandon his people, because the Lord wants to make you his people. 23 It would be unthinkable for me to sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. I will go on teaching you the way that is good and right. 24 Fear the Lord, and serve him sincerely. Consider the great things he did for you.

19 They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants, so we won’t die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of requesting a king for ourselves.”

20 Samuel replied, “Don’t be afraid. Even though you have committed all this evil, don’t turn away from following the Lord. Instead, worship the Lord with all your heart. 21 Don’t turn away to follow worthless things that can’t profit or deliver you; they are worthless. 22 The Lord will not abandon His people, because of His great name and because He has determined to make you His own people.

23 “As for me, I vow that I will not sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. I will teach you the good and right way. 24 Above all, fear the Lord and worship Him faithfully with all your heart; consider the great things He has done for you.

19 All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants, so that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of demanding a king for ourselves.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart; 21 and do not turn aside after useless things that cannot profit or save, for they are useless. 22 For the Lord will not cast away his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 23 Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the Lord, and serve him faithfully with all your heart; for consider what great things he has done for you.

19 Then all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God so that we will not die, because we have added to all our sins by requesting a king for ourselves.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear! You have done all this evil; only do not turn aside from following Yahweh. But you must serve Yahweh with all your heart. 21 And do not turn aside after the triviality, which have no value and cannot deliver, for they are triviality. 22 For Yahweh will not forsake his people for the sake of his great name, because Yahweh has decided to make you his own people. 23 Also, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh by ceasing to pray for you! I will instruct you in the good and righteous way. 24 Only fear Yahweh and serve him faithfully with all of your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.

19 They said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for us. Pray that we won’t die because we asked for a king. That was an evil thing to do. We added it to all of our other sins.”

20 “Don’t be afraid,” Samuel replied. “It’s true that you have done all of those evil things. But don’t turn away from the Lord. Serve him with all your heart.

21 “Don’t turn away and worship statues of gods. They are useless. They can’t do you any good. They can’t save you either. They are completely useless.

22 “But the Lord will be true to his great name. He won’t turn his back on his people. That’s because he was pleased to make you his own people.

23 “I would never sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. I’ll teach you to live in a way that is good and right.

24 “But be sure to have respect for the Lord. Serve him faithfully. Do it with all your heart. Think about the great things he has done for you.

19 Then all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king.”

20 Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.

21 “You must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile.

22 “For the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.

23 “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way.

24 “Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.