1 Samuel 8:1-22

Israel Seeks a King

8:1 In his old age Samuel appointed his sons as judges over Israel. 8:2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second son was Abijah. They were judges in Beer Sheba. 8:3 But his sons did not follow ¹  his ways. Instead, they made money dishonestly, accepted bribes, and perverted justice. ² 

8:4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and approached Samuel at Ramah. 8:5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead ³  us, just like all the other nations have.”

8:6 But this request displeased Samuel, for ⁴  they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. 8:7 The Lord said to Samuel, “Do everything the people request of you. ⁵  For it is not you that they have rejected, but it is me that they have rejected as their king. 8:8 Just as they have done ⁶  from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and have served other gods. This is what they are also doing to you. 8:9 So now do as they say. ⁷  But seriously warn ⁸  them and make them aware of the policies of the king who will rule over them.” ⁹ 

8:10 So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 8:11 He said, “Here are the policies of the king who will rule over you: He will conscript your sons and put them in his chariot forces and in his cavalry; they will run in front of his chariot. 8:12 He will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, ¹⁰  as well as those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and his chariot equipment. 8:13 He will take your daughters to be ointment makers, cooks, and bakers. 8:14 He will take your best fields and vineyards and give them to his own servants. 8:15 He will demand a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators ¹¹  and his servants. 8:16 He will take your male and female servants, as well as your best cattle and your donkeys, and assign them for his own use. 8:17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his servants. 8:18 In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you in that day.” ¹² 

8:19 But the people refused to heed Samuel’s warning. ¹³  Instead they said, “No! There will be a king over us! 8:20 We will be like all the other nations. Our king will judge us and lead us ¹⁴  and fight our battles.”

8:21 So Samuel listened to everything the people said and then reported it to the Lord. ¹⁵  8:22 The Lord said to Samuel, “Do as they say ¹⁶  and install a king over them.” Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Each of you go back to his own city.”

1 Samuel 10:17-24

10:17 Then Samuel called the people together before the Lord at Mizpah. 10:18 He said to the Israelites, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt and I delivered you from the power ¹⁷  of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you. 10:19 But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your trouble and distress. You have said, “No! ¹⁸  Appoint a king over us.” Now take your positions before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.’”

10:20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot. 10:21 Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of Matri was chosen by lot. At last Saul son of Kish was chosen by lot. But when they looked for him, he was nowhere to be found. 10:22 So they inquired again of the Lord, “Has the man arrived here yet?” The Lord said, “He has hidden himself among the equipment.” ¹⁹ 

10:23 So they ran and brought him from there. When he took his position among the people, he stood head and shoulders above them all. 10:24 Then Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? Indeed, there is no one like him among all the people!” All the people shouted out, “Long live the king!”

1 Samuel 12:1-25

12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have done ²⁰  everything you requested. ²¹  I have given you a king. ²²  12:2 Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day. 12:3 Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king. ²³  Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I wronged? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe so that I would overlook something? Tell me, ²⁴  and I will return it to you!”

12:4 They replied, “You have not wronged us or oppressed us. You have not taken anything from the hand of anyone.” 12:5 He said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his chosen king ²⁵  is witness this day, that you have not found any reason to accuse me.” ²⁶  They said, “He is witness!”

12:6 Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is the one who chose Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors ²⁷  up from the land of Egypt. 12:7 Now take your positions, so I may confront you ²⁸  before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors. ²⁹  12:8 When Jacob entered Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the Lord. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they led your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

12:9 “But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave ³⁰  them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s ³¹  army, ³²  and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 12:10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ³³  ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. ³⁴  Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ ³⁵  12:11 So the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, ³⁶  Barak, ³⁷  Jephthah, and Samuel, ³⁸  and he delivered you from the hand of the enemies all around you, and you were able to live securely.

12:12 “When you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king will rule over us’ – even though the Lord your God is your king! 12:13 Now look! Here is the king you have chosen – the one that you asked for! Look, the Lord has given you a king! 12:14 If you fear the Lord, serving him and obeying him ³⁹  and not rebelling against what he says, ⁴⁰  and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, all will be well. ⁴¹  12:15 But if you don’t obey ⁴²  the Lord and rebel against what the Lord says, the hand of the Lord will be against both you and your king. ⁴³ 

12:16 “So now, take your positions and watch this great thing that the Lord is about to do in your sight. 12:17 Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves.”

12:18 So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord made it thunder and rain that day. All the people were very afraid of both the Lord and Samuel. 12:19 All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God on behalf of us – your servants – so we won’t die, for we have added to all our sins by asking for a king.” ⁴⁴ 

12:20 Then Samuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed sinned. ⁴⁵  However, don’t turn aside from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart. 12:21 You should not turn aside after empty things that can’t profit and can’t deliver, since they are empty. ⁴⁶  12:22 The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation. ⁴⁷  The Lord was pleased to make you his own people. 12:23 As far as I am concerned, far be it from me to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you! I will instruct you in the way that is good and upright. 12:24 However, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Just look at the great things he has done for you! 12:25 But if you continue to do evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”

[8:3]  ¹ tn Heb “walk in” (also in v. 5).

[8:3]  ² tn Heb “and they turned aside after unjust gain and took bribes and perverted justice.”

[8:5]  ³ tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).

[8:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “when.”

[8:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “Listen to the voice of the people, to all which they say to you.”

[8:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “according to all the deeds which they have done.”

[8:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “and now, listen to their voice.”

[8:9]  ⁸ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the imperative for emphasis.

[8:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “and tell them the manner of the king who will rule over them.”

[8:12]  ¹⁰ tc The numbers of v. 12 are confused in the Greek and Syriac versions. For “fifties” the LXX has “hundreds.” The Syriac Peshitta has “heads of thousands and heads of hundreds and heads of fifties and heads of tens,” perhaps reflecting influence from Deut 1:15.

[8:15]  ¹¹ tn Or “eunuchs” (so NAB); NIV “officials”; KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT “officers.”

[8:18]  ¹² tc The LXX adds “because you have chosen for yourselves a king.”

[8:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel.”

[8:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and go out before us.”

[8:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and Samuel heard all the words of the people and he spoke them into the ears of the Lord.”

[8:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “listen to their voice.”

[10:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “hand” (also later in this verse).

[10:19]  ¹⁸ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading לֹא (lo’, “not”) rather than the MT לוֹ (lo; “to him”). Some witnesses combine the variants, resulting in a conflated text. For example, a few medieval Hebrew mss have לֹא לוֹ (lo lo’; “to him, ‘No.’”). A few others have לֹא לִי (li lo’; “to me, ‘No.’”).

[10:22]  ¹⁹ tn Or “baggage” (so many English versions); KJV “stuff”; TEV “supplies.”

[12:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Look, I have listened to your voice.”

[12:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “to all which you said to me.”

[12:1]  ²² tn Heb “and I have installed a king over you.”

[12:3]  ²³ tn Heb “anointed [one].”

[12:3]  ²⁴ tn The words “tell me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[12:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “anointed [one].”

[12:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “that you have not found anything in my hand.”

[12:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 8).

[12:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and I will enter into judgment with you” (NRSV similar); NAB “and I shall arraign you.”

[12:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “all the just actions which he has done with you and with your fathers.”

[12:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “sold” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera”; NLT “he let them be conquered by Sisera.”

[12:9]  ³¹ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[12:9]  ³² tn Heb “captain of the host of Hazor.”

[12:10]  ³³ tn Heb “and said.”

[12:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural). The words “images of” are supplied in both vv. 3 and 4 for clarity.

[12:10]  sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. See the note on the same term in 7:3.

[12:10]  ³⁵ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[12:11]  ³⁶ sn Jerub-Baal (יְרֻבַּעַל) is also known as Gideon (see Judg 6:32). The Book of Judges uses both names for him.

[12:11]  ³⁷ tc The MT has “Bedan” (בְּדָן) here (cf. KJV, NASB, CEV). But a deliverer by this name is not elsewhere mentioned in the OT. The translation follows the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “Barak.”

[12:11]  ³⁸ tc In the ancient versions there is some confusion with regard to these names, both with regard to the particular names selected for mention and with regard to the order in which they are listed. For example, the LXX has “Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel.” But the Targum has “Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, and Samuel,” while the Syriac Peshitta has “Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.”

[12:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and you listen to his voice.”

[12:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.” So also in v. 15.

[12:14]  ⁴¹ tn The words “all will be well” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[12:15]  ⁴² tn Heb “listen to the voice of.”

[12:15]  ⁴³ tc The LXX reads “your king” rather than the MT’s “your fathers.” The latter makes little sense here. Some follow MT, but translate “as it was against your fathers.” See P. K. McCarter, 1 Samuel (AB), 212.

[12:19]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “for we have added to all our sins an evil [thing] by asking for ourselves a king.”

[12:20]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “you have done all this evil.”

[12:21]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “useless” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “nothing”; NASB “futile”; TEV “are not real.”

[12:22]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “on account of his great name.”