1 Samuel 8:5

Modern

“Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”

Traditional

And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

Literal

…and they said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint to us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

Latin

Dixeruntque ei: Ecce tu senuisti, et filii tui non ambulant in viis tuis: constitue nobis regem, ut judicet nos, sicut et universæ habent nationes.

Hebrew

English

“Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”

you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways: Judges were usually local leaders. But kings, as national leaders, could unite the entire nation during crises (1 Samuel 8:20). However, a spiritual issue was behind the request for a king (1 Samuel 8:7–8).
Other nations, like Egypt and Sumer, were ruled by kings for nearly 2,000 years before Samuel’s time.

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

Deuteronomy 17:14–15
When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”
1 Samuel 8:19–20
Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.
Hosea 13:10–11
Where is your king now to save you in all your cities, and the rulers to whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?
1 Samuel 8:6–8
But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD.
1 Samuel 12:17
Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what a great evil you have committed in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king.”
Numbers 23:9
For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. Behold, a people dwelling apart, not reckoning themselves among the nations.
Acts 13:21
Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years.