⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at ^(A)Ramah ⁵ and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. ^(B)Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” ⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, ^(C)for they have not rejected you, ^(D)but they have rejected me from being king over them. ⁸ According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. ⁹ Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them ^(E)and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

Samuel's Warning Against Kings

¹⁰ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. ¹¹ He said, ^(F)“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: ^(G)he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. ¹² And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some ^(H)to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ^14 (I)He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. ¹⁶ He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men^[a] and your donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. ¹⁸ And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, ^(J)but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The Lord Grants Israel's Request

¹⁹ But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, ^20 (K)that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” ²¹ And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. ²² And the Lord said to Samuel, ^(L)“Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

The Plot to Kill Lazarus

⁹ When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus^[a] was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, ^(A)whom he had raised from the dead. ^10 (B)So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, ¹¹ because ^(C)on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

The Triumphal Entry

¹² The next day ^(D)the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. ¹³ So they took branches of ^(E)palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ^(F)“Hosanna! Blessed is ^(G)he who comes in the name of the Lord, even ^(H)the King of Israel!” ¹⁴ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

³⁷ Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, ^38 (A)so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

³⁹ Therefore they ^(C)could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because ^(F)he saw his glory and ^(G)spoke of him. ⁴² Nevertheless, ^(H)many even of the authorities believed in him, but ^(I)for fear of the Pharisees they did not ^(J)confess it, so that they would not be ^(K)put out of the synagogue; ^43 (L)for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Jesus Came to Save the World

⁴⁴ And Jesus cried out and said, ^(M)“Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but ^(N)in him who sent me. ⁴⁵ And ^(O)whoever ^(P)sees me sees him who sent me. ^46 (Q)I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷ If anyone ^(R)hears my words and does not keep them, ^(S)I do not judge him; for ^(T)I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. ^48 (U)The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; ^(V)the word that I have spoken will judge him ^(W)on the last day. ⁴⁹ For ^(X)I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father ^(Y)who sent me has himself given me ^(Z)a commandment—what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”