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.”
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.
- BSB 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.”
- 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.”
- 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 8:5They 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.”
- Exod 33:16For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?”
- Phil 3:20For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
- Ps 106:35but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works.
- Num 23:9For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be listed among the nations.
- Deut 7:6For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
- 1 Pet 2:9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
- 2 Cor 6:17Therefore “‘Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you.
- John 15:19If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
- Lev 20:24–26But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am Yahweh your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
- Rom 12:12rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly 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.