1 Samuel 8-9

English Standard Version

Israel Demands a King

8 When Samuel became old, ^(A)he made his sons judges over Israel. ² The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. ³ Yet his sons did not walk in his ways ^(B)but turned aside after gain. ^(C)They took bribes and perverted justice.

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at ^(D)Ramah ⁵ and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. ^(E)Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, ^(F)for they have not rejected you, ^(G)but they have rejected me from being king over them. ⁸ According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. ⁹ Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them ^(H)and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

Samuel's Warning Against Kings

¹⁰ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. ¹¹ He said, ^(I)“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: ^(J)he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. ¹² And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some ^(K)to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ^14 (L)He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. ¹⁶ He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men^[a] and your donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. ¹⁸ And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, ^(M)but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The Lord Grants Israel's Request

¹⁹ But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, ^20 (N)that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” ²¹ And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. ²² And the Lord said to Samuel, ^(O)“Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

Saul Chosen to Be King

9 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was ^(P)Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. ² And he had a son whose name was Saul, ^(Q)a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. ^(R)From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

³ Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.” ⁴ And he passed through ^(S)the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of ^(T)Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.

⁵ When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant^[b] who was with him, “Come, let us go back, ^(U)lest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us.” ⁶ But he said to him, “Behold, there is ^(V)a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; ^(W)all that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go.” ⁷ Then Saul said to his servant, “But if we go, ^(X)what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” ⁸ The servant answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter of a shekel^[c] of silver, and I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way.” ⁹ (Formerly in Israel, when a man ^(Y)went to inquire of God, he said, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for today's “prophet” was formerly called a seer.) ¹⁰ And Saul said to his servant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.

¹¹ As they went up the hill to the city, ^(Z)they met young women coming out to draw water and said to them, “Is the seer here?” ¹² They answered, “He is; behold, he is just ahead of you. Hurry. He has come just now to the city, because the people ^(AA)have a sacrifice today on ^(AB)the high place. ¹³ As soon as you enter the city you will find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat till he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.” ¹⁴ So they went up to the city. As they were entering the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the high place.

¹⁵ Now the day before Saul came, ^(AC)the Lord had ^(AD)revealed to Samuel: ¹⁶ “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, ^(AE)and you shall anoint him to be prince^[d] over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. ^(AF)For I have seen^[e] my people, because their cry has come to me.” ¹⁷ When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, ^(AG)“Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.” ¹⁸ Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, “Tell me where is the house of the seer?” ¹⁹ Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. ^20 (AH)As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father's house?” ²¹ Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, ^(AI)from the least of the tribes of Israel? ^(AJ)And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”

²² Then Samuel took Saul and his young man and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited, who were about thirty persons. ²³ And Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Put it aside.’” ²⁴ So the cook took up ^(AK)the leg and what was on it and set them before Saul. And Samuel said, “See, what was kept is set before you. Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests.”^[f]

So Saul ate with Samuel that day. ²⁵ And when they came down from the high place into the city, a bed was spread for Saul ^(AL)on the roof, and he lay down to sleep.^{[g] 26} Then at the break of dawn^[h] Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Up, that I may send you on your way.” So Saul arose, and both he and Samuel went out into the street.

²⁷ As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.”