⁸ The Israelites said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, so that he will save us from the Philistines.”

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

⁴ Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God,^(A) and will rebuke him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”^(B)

²⁰ You have gone astray at the cost of your lives^[a] because you are the ones who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray to the Lord our God on our behalf, and as for all that the Lord our God says, tell it to us, and we’ll act accordingly.’