{"meta":{"source":"Prime Bible","sourceUrl":"https://primebible.com","license":"Public domain (translation text); see citation policy at /citation-policy","organization":"501(c)(3) nonprofit — EIN 41-2531951","canonicalUrl":"https://primebible.com/web/1-samuel/8","llmTxt":"https://primebible.com/llms.txt","generatedAt":"2026-06-09T23:22:04.432Z"},"reference":{"translation":"WEB","book":"1 Samuel","bookSlug":"1-samuel","chapter":8,"testament":"OLD"},"navigation":{"previousChapter":7,"nextChapter":9,"totalChapters":31,"totalVerses":22},"verses":[{"verseNumber":1,"text":"It happened, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel."},{"verseNumber":2,"text":"Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah: they were judges in Beersheba."},{"verseNumber":3,"text":"His sons didn't walk in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice."},{"verseNumber":4,"text":"Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah;"},{"verseNumber":5,"text":"and 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.|"},{"verseNumber":6,"text":"But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, |Give us a king to judge us.| Samuel prayed to Yahweh."},{"verseNumber":7,"text":"Yahweh said to Samuel, |Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them."},{"verseNumber":8,"text":"According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also to you."},{"verseNumber":9,"text":"Now therefore listen to their voice: however you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who shall reign over them.|"},{"verseNumber":10,"text":"Samuel told all the words of Yahweh to the people who asked of him a king."},{"verseNumber":11,"text":"He said, |This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them to him, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots;"},{"verseNumber":12,"text":"and he will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and [he will set some] to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots."},{"verseNumber":13,"text":"He will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers."},{"verseNumber":14,"text":"He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive groves, even the best of them, and give them to his servants."},{"verseNumber":15,"text":"He will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants."},{"verseNumber":16,"text":"He will take your male servants, and your female servants, and your best young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work."},{"verseNumber":17,"text":"He will take the tenth of your flocks: and you shall be his servants."},{"verseNumber":18,"text":"You shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you shall have chosen you; and Yahweh will not answer you in that day.|"},{"verseNumber":19,"text":"But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, |No; but we will have a king over us,"},{"verseNumber":20,"text":"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.|"},{"verseNumber":21,"text":"Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of Yahweh."},{"verseNumber":22,"text":"Yahweh said to Samuel, |Listen to their voice, and make them a king.| Samuel said to the men of Israel, |Every man go to his city.|"}],"citation":{"inline":"1 Samuel 8 (WEB)","markdown":"[1 Samuel 8](https://primebible.com/web/1-samuel/8)","sbl":"Prime Bible. *The Bible.* WEB. https://primebible.com/web/1-samuel/8 (accessed 2026-06-09)."}}