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1 Samuel 8:1-3
New Catholic Bible
1 Samuel 8:1-3
New Catholic Bible
The Inauguration of the Monarchy[a]
Chapter 8
The People Request a King. 1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. 2 The name of the older was Joel, and the name of the younger was Abijah, and they were judges at Beer-sheba. 3 The sons did not walk in his ways. They sought dishonest gains, took bribes, and perverted justice.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 8:1 Israel needs a strong authority to deal with the Philistine threat. Neighboring peoples offer a model: monarchy. But does not having a king mean imitating the pagan nations and betraying the Lord, who is the only true king of his people? The conscience of Israel is disturbed; the passages we shall be reading here (revised by the author of the book) bear witness to this unease: some Israelites are in favor of a monarchy, others opposed to it.
1 Samuel 8:1-3
New International Version
1 Samuel 8:1-3
New International Version
Israel Asks for a King
8 When Samuel grew old, he appointed(A) his sons as Israel’s leaders.[a] 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah,(B) and they served at Beersheba.(C) 3 But his sons(D) did not follow his ways. They turned aside(E) after dishonest gain and accepted bribes(F) and perverted(G) justice.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 8:1 Traditionally judges
New International Version (NIV) 
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