Keraia
1 Samuel 8

1 Samuel 8:16

Samuel’s Warning · 1 Samuel 8:10–18
Read 1 Samuel 8

Translations

Modern
And he will take your menservants and maidservants and your best cattle and donkeys and put them to his own use.
Traditional
And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
Literal
And your menservants, and your maidservants, and your best cattle, and your donkeys, he will take and put to his work.
Latin
Servos etiam vestros, et ancillas, et juvenes optimos, et asinos, auferet, et ponet in opere suo.

Original

Hebrew
English
And he will take your menservants and maidservants and your best cattle and donkeys and put them to his own use.

Notes

1 Samuel 8:12–17

The king would take both people and their belongings.

1 Samuel 8:10–18

These verses explain why being a king has downsides. Each sentence describes something the king would take. A king would seize things, not just protect them.

1 Samuel 8:1–12:25

When Israel was changing to a monarchy (rule by kings), neither God (1 Samuel 8:7–9) nor Samuel (1 Samuel 12:1–25) liked the people's request for a king. Saul, the first king (1 Samuel 9–11), did not succeed in his role (1 Samuel 13–31) and proved Samuel's warnings true (see 1 Samuel 8:10–18; compare 1 Samuel 16:1–13).

Theme notes and profiles

Samuel Kingship

Glossary

History of Israel Palace Riches Samuel (Person) Samuel, Books of First and Second Theocracy

Topics

Government: Mosaic: Chose, or Ratified, the Chief Ruler Israel: Under the Judges: They Demand a King Kings: Israel Warned Against Seeking Monarchy: Described by Samuel Rulers: Wicked Samuel: People Desire a King; he Protests the Domestic Donkey: Often Taken Unlawfully by Corrupt Rulers Tribute: Sometimes Exacted by Kings from Their own Subjects