A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
1 Samuel 8
1 Samuel 8 is the eighth chapter of the first book of Samuel. The 22-verse chapter records Israel's demand for a king and God's warning about what a king will cost them.
When Samuel grows old, he appoints his sons as judges, but they turn aside to dishonest gain, accepting bribes and perverting justice. So the elders of Israel gather at Ramah and ask Samuel to appoint a king to lead them, "like all the other nations." The request displeases Samuel, and he prays to the LORD.
God tells Samuel to listen to the people, explaining that it is not Samuel they have rejected but God himself as their king, just as they have turned to other gods since leaving Egypt. God tells him to warn them plainly about the kind of king they will have.
Samuel relays the warning: the king will take their sons for his chariots and armies and their daughters for his household, seize the best of their fields, vineyards, and flocks, take a tenth of their harvest, and reduce the people to servants. When that day comes, he says, they will cry out because of the king they have chosen, but the LORD will not answer them.
The people refuse to listen. They insist on a king so that they can be like the other nations, with someone to judge them and fight their battles. Samuel brings their words back to the LORD, who tells him to listen to them and appoint a king. The chapter closes with Samuel sending the people back to their towns.
Verse 1. When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.
Verse 2. The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba.
Verse 3. But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside toward dishonest gain, accepting bribes and perverting justice.
Verse 4. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.
Verse 5. “Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”
Verse 6. But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD.
Verse 7. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.
Verse 8. Just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.
Verse 9. Now listen to their voice; but you must solemnly warn them and show them the manner of the king who will reign over them.”
Verse 10. So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king.
Verse 11. He said, “This will be the manner of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them to serve his own chariots and horses, and to run in front of his chariots.
Verse 12. He will appoint some for himself as commanders of thousands and of fifties, and others to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
Verse 13. And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.
Verse 14. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his servants.
Verse 15. He will take a tenth of your grain and grape harvest and give it to his officials and servants.
Verse 16. And he will take your menservants and maidservants and your best cattle and donkeys and put them to his own use.
Verse 17. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.
Verse 18. When that day comes, you will beg for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you on that day.”
Verse 19. Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.
Verse 20. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.”
Verse 21. Samuel listened to all the words of the people and repeated them in the hearing of the LORD.
Verse 22. “Listen to their voice,” the LORD said to Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.” Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Everyone must go back to his city.”
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