1 Samuel 8

CHAPTER 8

Israel Tells Samuel to Appoint a King

¹And it happened when Samuel was old that ^ahe appointed his sons judges over Israel.

²The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judging in ^aBeersheba.

³But his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after greedy gain and ^atook bribes and caused justice to turn aside.

⁴Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at ^aRamah;

⁵and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now ^aappoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.”

⁶But the thing was ^aevil in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And ^bSamuel prayed to Yahweh.

⁷Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for ^athey have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.

⁸“Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also.

⁹“So now, listen to their voice; ^ahowever, you shall solemnly ¹testify to them and tell them of ^bthe ²custom of the king who will reign over them.”

The People Refuse Samuel’s Words

¹⁰So Samuel spoke all the words of Yahweh to ^athe people who had asked of him a king.

¹¹And he said, “^aThis will be the ¹custom of the king who will reign over you: ^bhe will take your sons and appoint them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen, and ^cthey will run before his chariots.

¹²“^aAnd he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to ¹do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

¹³“He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers.

¹⁴“^aHe will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his ¹servants.

¹⁵“He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants.

¹⁶“He will also take your male slaves and your female slaves and your best young men and your donkeys and ¹use them for his work.

¹⁷“He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.

¹⁸“Then ^ayou will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but ^bYahweh will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹Nevertheless, the people ^arefused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us,

^20athat we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

²¹So Samuel heard all the words of the people, and ^ahe repeated them in the hearing of Yahweh.

²²Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “^aListen to their voice and ¹appoint them a king.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”