Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.”
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.”
- KJV 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.
- NKJV 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.”
- NASB so that we also may be like all the nations, and our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
- NLT “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
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.
Quick answer
They want a king to make them like other nations, to lead them and fight their battles.
Overview
Israel's reasons expose their loss of faith: they want a human leader to do what God Himself had always done for them. The desire to be 'like all the nations' rejects their calling to be a distinct, God-ruled people. They forget that the LORD had been their warrior and judge.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Sam 8:5“Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”
- Exod 33:16For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
- Phil 3:20But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- Ps 106:35but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
- Num 23:9For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. Behold, a people dwelling apart, not reckoning themselves among the nations.
- Deut 7:6For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.
- 1 Pet 2:9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- 2 Cor 6:17“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
- John 15:19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
- Lev 20:24–26But I have told you that you will inherit their land, since I will give it to you as an inheritance—a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the peoples.
- Rom 12:12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:20 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.