Now, behold, the king walks before you. I am old and gray-headed. Behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth to this day.
Parallel translations
- KJV And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
- BSB Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.
- NKJV And now here is the king, walking before you; and I am old and grayheaded, and look, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my childhood to this day.
- NASB Now, here is the king walking before you, but as for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. And I have walked before you since my youth to this day.
- NLT Your king is now your leader. I stand here before you—an old, gray-haired man—and my sons serve you. I have served as your leader from the time I was a boy to this very day.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 1 Sam 8:5They said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
- 1 Sam 8:1When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.
- 1 Sam 8:20that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.”
- 1 Sam 3:19–20Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground.
- Num 27:17who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in; that the congregation of Yahweh not be as sheep which have no shepherd.”
- 1 Sam 8:3His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.
- 1 Sam 3:16Then Eli called Samuel, and said, “Samuel, my son!” He said, “Here I am.”
- 1 Sam 2:29Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’
- Isa 46:3–4“Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been carried from their birth, that have been carried from the womb.
- 1 Sam 3:13For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them.
- Ps 71:18Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come.
- 2 Tim 4:6For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come.
- 1 Sam 2:22Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
- 2 Pet 1:14knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 12:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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