Israel Demands a King

8 Now it came to pass when Samuel was ^(A)old that he ^(B)made his ^(C)sons judges over Israel.

Justice Must Be Administered

¹⁸ “You shall appoint ^(A)judges and officers in all your ^[a]gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. ^19 (B)You shall not pervert justice; ^(C)you shall not ^[b]show partiality, ^(D)nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and ^[c]twists the words of the righteous.

²¹ I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the ^[a]elect angels that you observe these things without ^(A)prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.

² that I gave the charge of Jerusalem to my brother ^(A)Hanani, and Hananiah the leader ^(B)of the ^[a]citadel, for he was a faithful man and ^(C)feared God more than many.

⁵ Then he set ^(A)judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, ⁶ and said to the judges, “Take heed to what you are doing, for ^(B)you do not judge for man but for the Lord, ^(C)who is with you ^[a]in the judgment.

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

⁴ Now he had thirty sons who ^(A)rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, ^(B)which are called ^[a]“Havoth Jair” to this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

Gideon’s Ephod

²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ^(A)“Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have ^(B)delivered us from the hand of Midian.”

²³ But Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; ^(C)the Lord shall rule over you.”