⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, ⁵ and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now ^(A)make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

⁶ But the thing ^(B)displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel ^(C)prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for ^(D)they have not rejected you, but ^(E)they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.

¹⁹ Nevertheless the people ^(A)refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, ²⁰ that we also may be ^(B)like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

²¹ And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. ²² So the Lord said to Samuel, ^(C)“Heed their voice, and make them a king.”

And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every man go to his city.”