Israel Tells Samuel to Appoint a King

8 And it happened when Samuel was old that ^(A)he appointed his sons judges over Israel. ² The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judging in ^(B)Beersheba. ³ But his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after greedy gain and ^(C)took bribes and caused justice to turn aside.

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at ^(D)Ramah; ⁵ and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now ^(E)appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ But the thing was ^(F)evil in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And ^(G)Samuel prayed to Yahweh. ⁷ Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for ^(H)they 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; ^(I)however, you shall solemnly ^[a]testify to them and tell them of ^(J)the ^[b]custom of the king who will reign over them.”

The People Refuse Samuel’s Words

¹⁰ So Samuel spoke all the words of Yahweh to ^(K)the people who had asked of him a king. ¹¹ And he said, “^(L)This will be the ^[c]custom of the king who will reign over you: ^(M)he will take your sons and appoint them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen, and ^(N)they will run before his chariots. ^12 (O)And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to ^[d]do 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 (P)He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his ^[e]servants. 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 ^[f]use them for his work. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸ Then ^(Q)you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but ^(R)Yahweh will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹ Nevertheless, the people ^(S)refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, ^20 (T)that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” ²¹ So Samuel heard all the words of the people, and ^(U)he repeated them in the hearing of Yahweh. ²² Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “^(V)Listen to their voice and ^[g]appoint them a king.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”