All the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God, that we not die; for we have added to all our sins [this] evil, to ask us a king.
"Do not turn aside after vain things"  (1 Samuel 12:21).  This is a reference to the pagan idols, which are also referred to in the Scriptures as `nothings.' In fact the words here rendered vain things, "Actually mean anything empty or void, and are often used, as here, for an idol.  As Paul says, `An idol is nothing in the world'  (1 Corinthians 7:4)."[14]  H. P. Smith translated this place, "And do not turn aside after the nothings."[15]