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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>1 Samuel 8 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/1_samuel/8.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/1_samuel/8-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > 1 Samuel 8</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_samuel/7.htm" title="1 Samuel 7">◄</a> 1 Samuel 8 <a href="../1_samuel/9.htm" title="1 Samuel 9">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/1_samuel/8.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Israel Demands a King</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>And the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”</p> <p class="heading">Samuel’s Warning Against Kings</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>So Samuel told all the words of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> to the people who were asking for a king from him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Septuagint cattle">a</a></sup></span> and your donkeys, and put them to his work. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> will not answer you in that day.”</p> <p class="heading">The <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> Grants Israel’s Request</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>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.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/8-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>And the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">16</span> Septuagint <i>cattle</i><br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. 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