“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.”
Parallel translations
- WEB They 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.”
- KJV And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
- NKJV and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
- NASB and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
- NLT “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”
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
The elders ask Samuel to appoint a king to judge them 'like all the nations.'
Overview
Citing Samuel's age and his sons' corruption, the elders demand a king modeled on the surrounding nations. The desire to be 'like all the nations' reveals the deeper sin: a longing to replace dependence on God with the security of human kingship. Though God had foreseen a king (Deuteronomy 17), their motive and manner amount to a rejection of the LORD's direct reign.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Deut 17:14–15When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”
- 1 Sam 8:19–20Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.
- Hos 13:10–11Where is your king now to save you in all your cities, and the rulers to whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?
- 1 Sam 8:6–8But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD.
- 1 Sam 12:17Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what a great evil you have committed in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king.”
- 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.
- Acts 13:21Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them forty years under Saul son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin.
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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 8:5 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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