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;

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:

And Samuel said to the people: Fear not, you have done all this evil: but yet depart not from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.

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;

And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have indeed done all this evil: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;

And Samuel saith unto the people, 'Fear not; ye have done all this evil; only, turn not aside from after Jehovah, and ye have served Jehovah with all your heart,

Then Samuel said to the people, Have no fear: truly you have done evil, but do not be turned away from the Lord; be his servants with all your heart;

Samuel said to the people, 'Do not be afraid. You have indeed done all this evil; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.

Then Samuel said to the people: "Do not be afraid. You have done all this evil. Yet truly, do not choose to withdraw from the back of the Lord. Instead, serve the Lord with all your heart.

Ye have done all this wickedness - That is, although ye have done all this wickedness: what was past God would pass by, provided they would be obedient in future.

And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: (m) yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;
(m) He shows that there is no sin so great, but it shall be forgiven, if the sinner turn again to God.

And Samuel said unto the people, fear not,.... Being destroyed by the tempest:
ye have done all this wickedness; in asking a king; that is, though they were guilty of so heinous a sin, yet there were grace and mercy with God, and they should not despair of it, so be it that they did not depart from him, but cordially served him; the Targum is,"ye have been the cause of all this evil;''the storm of thunder and rain; and though they had, he would not have them despond or indulge slavish fear:
yet turn not aside from following the Lord; the worship of the Lord, as the Targum; provided they did not depart from the Lord, and forsake his worship, word, and ordinances, they need not fear utter ruin and destruction, though they had been guilty of this sin:
but serve the Lord with all your heart; if their service of God was kept up, and was hearty and sincere, they might still expect things would go well with them.

Samuel thereupon announced to them first of all, that the Lord would not forsake His people for His great name's sake, if they would only serve Him with uprightness. In order, however, to give no encouragement to any false trust in the covenant faithfulness of the Lord, after the comforting words, "Fear not," he told them again very decidedly that they had done wrong, but that now they were not to turn away from the Lord, but to serve Him with all their heart, and not go after vain idols. To strengthen this admonition, he repeats the תּסוּרוּ לא in 1-Samuel 12:21, with the explanation, that in turning from the Lord they would fall away to idols, which could not bring them either help or deliverance. To the כּי after תּסוּרוּ the same verb must be supplied from the context: "Do not turn aside (from the Lord), for (ye turn aside) after that which is vain." התּהוּ, the vain, worthless thing, signifies the false gods. This will explain the construction with a plural: "which do not profit and do not save, because they are emptiness" (tohu), i.e., worthless beings (elilim, Leviticus 19:4; cf. Isaiah 44:9 and Jeremiah 16:19).

Fear not - With a desponding fear, as if there were no hope left for you.