“ Look, I now teach you these decrees and regulations just as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
Then the Lord said to Moses,“ I will come to you in a thick cloud, Moses, so the people themselves can hear me when I speak with you. Then they will always trust you.” Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord,“ Do not accept their grain offerings! I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, and I have never hurt a single one of them.”
The Levites obeyed your word and guarded your covenant. They were more loyal to you than to their own parents. They ignored their relatives and did not acknowledge their own children.
Now testify against me in the presence of the Lord and before his anointed one. Whose ox or donkey have I stolen? Have I ever cheated any of you? Have I ever oppressed you? Have I ever taken a bribe and perverted justice? Tell me and I will make right whatever I have done wrong.”“ No,” they replied,“ you have never cheated or oppressed us, and you have never taken even a single bribe.”“ The Lord and his anointed one are my witnesses today,” Samuel declared,“ that my hands are clean.”“ Yes, he is a witness,” they replied.