1 Samuel 8

Complete Jewish Bible

8 When Sh’mu’el grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Isra’el. ² His firstborn was named Yo’el, while his second son was named Aviyah; they were judges in Be’er-Sheva. ³ However, his sons did not follow his way of life; they turned off it to pursue riches, so that they would take bribes to distort justice. ⁴ All the leaders of Isra’el gathered themselves together, approached Sh’mu’el in Ramah ⁵ and said to him, “Look, you have grown old, and your sons are not following your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ Sh’mu’el was not pleased to hear them say, “Give us a king to judge us”; so he prayed to Adonai. ⁷ Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, “Listen to the people, to everything they say to you; for it is not you they are rejecting; they are rejecting me; they don’t want me to be king over them. ⁸ They are doing to you exactly what they have been doing to me, from the day I brought them out of Egypt until today, by abandoning me and serving other gods. ⁹ So do what they say, but give them a sober warning, telling them what kinds of rulings their king will make.”

¹⁰ Sh’mu’el reported everything Adonai had said to the people asking him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “Here is the kind of rulings your king will make: he will draft your sons and assign them to take care of his chariots, be his horsemen and be bodyguards running ahead of his chariots. ¹² He will appoint them to serve him as officers in charge of a thousand or of fifty, plowing his fields, gathering his harvest, and making his weapons and the equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters and have them be perfume-makers, cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will expropriate your fields, vineyards and olive groves — the very best of them! — and hand them over to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take the ten-percent tax of your crops and vineyards and give it to his officers and servants. ¹⁶ He will take your male and female servants, your best young men and your donkeys, and make them work for him. ¹⁷ He will take the ten-percent tax of your flocks, and you will become his servants. ¹⁸ When that happens, you will cry out on account of your king, whom you yourselves chose. But when that happens, Adonai will not answer you!”

¹⁹ However, the people refused to listen to what Sh’mu’el told them, and they said, “No! We want a king over us, ²⁰ so that we can be like all the nations, with our king to judge us, lead us and fight our battles.” ²¹ Sh’mu’el heard everything the people said and repeated them for Adonai to hear. ²² Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, “Do what they ask, and set up a king for them.” So Sh’mu’el told the men of Isra’el, “Each of you, return to his city.”