Israel Demands a King

8 When Samuel became old, ^(A)he made his sons judges over Israel.

Justice

¹⁸ “You shall appoint ^(A)judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. ^19 (B)You shall not pervert justice. ^(C)You shall not show partiality, ^(D)and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

²¹ In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels ^(A)I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, ^(B)doing nothing from partiality.

² I gave ^(A)my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of ^(B)the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was ^(C)a more faithful and God-fearing man than many.

⁵ He appointed ^(A)judges in the land in all ^(B)the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, ⁶ and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, ^(C)for you judge not for man but for the Lord. He is with you in giving judgment.

¹⁴ He had forty ^(A)sons and thirty grandsons, who ^(B)rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years.

⁴ And he had thirty sons who ^(A)rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, ^(B)which are in the land of Gilead.

Gideon's Ephod

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” ²³ Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; ^(A)the Lord will rule over you.”