⁵ They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king^(A) to lead^[a](B) us, such as all the other nations^(C) have.”

²¹ Then the people asked for a king,^(A) and he gave them Saul^(B) son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin,^(C) who ruled forty years.

The King

¹⁴ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession^(A) of it and settled in it,^(B) and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”^{(C) 15} be sure to appoint^(D) over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites.^(E) Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.

¹⁹ But the people refused^(A) to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want^(B) a king^(C) over us. ²⁰ Then we will be like all the other nations,^(D) with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

⁶ But when they said, “Give us a king^(A) to lead us,” this displeased^(B) Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord told him: “Listen^(C) to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected,^(D) but they have rejected me as their king.^{(E) 8} As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking^(F) me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.

¹⁷ Is it not wheat harvest^(A) now? I will call^(B) on the Lord to send thunder^(C) and rain.^(D) And you will realize what an evil^(E) thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.”