1 Samuel · Catholic Public Domain Version
1 Samuel 8 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
1 And it happened that, when Samuel had become old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.
1 When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.
2 Now the name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of the second was Abijah: judges at Beersheba.
2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba.
3 But his sons did not walk in his ways. Instead, they turned aside, pursuing avarice. And they accepted bribes, and they perverted judgment.
3 His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.
4 Therefore, all those greater by birth of Israel, having gathered together, went to Samuel at Ramah.
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel to Ramah.
5 And they said to him: “Behold, you are elderly, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Appoint for us a king, so that he may judge us, just as all the nations have.”
5 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.”
6 And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, for they had said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” Samuel prayed to Yahweh.
7 Then the Lord said to Samuel: “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they are saying to you. For they have not rejected you, but me, lest I reign over them.
7 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 as the king over them.
8 In accord with all their works, which they have done from the day when I led them away from Egypt, even to this day: just as they have forsaken me, and served foreign gods, so now they also do to you.
8 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 they also do to you.
9 Now therefore, hear their voice. Yet truly, testify to them and foretell to them the rights of the king who will reign over them.”
9 Now therefore, listen to their voice. However, you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who will reign over them.”
10 And so, Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people, who had petitioned a king from him.
10 Samuel told all Yahweh’s words to the people who asked him for a king.
11 And he said: “This will be the right of the king who will have authority over you: He will take your sons, and place them in his chariots. And he will make them his horsemen and his runners before his four-horse chariots.
11 He said, “This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them as his servants, for his chariots and to be his horsemen; and they will run before his chariots.
12 And he will appoint them to be his tribunes and centurions, and the plowmen of his fields, and the harvesters of the grain, and the makers of his weapons and chariots.
12 He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest; and to make his instruments of war and the instruments of his chariots.
13 Likewise, your daughters he will take for himself as makers of ointments, and as cooks and bakers.
13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14 Also, he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your best olive groves, and he will give them to his servants.
14 He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even your best, and give them to his servants.
15 Moreover, he will take one tenth of your grain and of the results of your vineyards, so that he may give these to his eunuchs and servants.
15 He will take one tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers and to his servants.
16 Then, too, he will take your servants, and handmaids, and your best young men, and your donkeys, and he will set them to his work.
16 He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys, and assign them to his own work.
17 Also, he will take a tenth of your flocks. And you will be his servants.
17 He will take one tenth of your flocks; and you will be his servants.
18 And you will cry out, in that day, from the face of the king, whom you have chosen for yourselves. And the Lord will not heed you, in that day. For you requested a king for yourselves.”
18 You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you will have chosen for yourselves; and Yahweh will not answer you in that day.”
19 But the people were not willing to listen to the voice of Samuel. Instead, they said: “By no means! For there shall be a king over us,
19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us,
20 and we shall be just like all the Gentiles. And our king will judge us, and he will go out before us, and he will fight our wars for us.”
20 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.”
21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he spoke them to the ears of the Lord.
21 Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of Yahweh.
22 Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice, and appoint a king over them.” And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Let each one go to his own city.”
22 Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice, and make them a king.” Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Everyone go to your own city.”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Abijah
Samuel's second son, appointed with his brother Joel as a judge at Beersheba, who took bribes and perverted justice.
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 8:2; 1 Chronicles 6:28
Joel
Samuel's firstborn, appointed with his brother Abijah as a judge at Beersheba, who did not walk in his father's ways but took bribes and perverted justice. Through him Samuel was…
Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 8:2; 1 Chronicles 6:28; 1 Chronicles 6:33
Places
Beersheba
The southern frontier of Israel ('from Dan to Beersheba'). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all dug wells and worshiped here at the gateway to the Negev.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 21:31; Genesis 26:23; 1 Samuel 8:2
Cross references (18)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Deuteronomy 16:18–19; 1 Timothy 5:21; Judges 8:22–23; Nehemiah 7:2; Judges 12:14
- 2 Genesis 22:19; 1 Chronicles 6:28; Amos 5:5; 1 Chronicles 6:38; 1 Kings 19:3
- 3 Deuteronomy 16:19; 1 Timothy 6:10; Psalm 15:5; Exodus 18:21; Exodus 23:8
- 4 2 Samuel 5:3; 1 Samuel 7:17; Exodus 24:1; Exodus 3:16
- 5 Deuteronomy 17:14–15; 1 Samuel 8:19–20; 1 Samuel 8:6–8; Hosea 13:10–11; Numbers 23:9
- 6 1 Samuel 15:11; James 1:5; 1 Samuel 12:17; Exodus 32:21; Numbers 16:46
- 7 Luke 10:16; 1 Samuel 10:19; Exodus 16:8; Hosea 13:10–11; Luke 19:14
- 8 Exodus 32:1; Psalm 106:34–40; Judges 6:1; Numbers 14:2–4; Acts 7:51–53
- 9 1 Samuel 10:25; 1 Samuel 8:11–18; Ezekiel 46:18; Ezekiel 3:18; Ezekiel 45:7–8
- 11 1 Samuel 14:52; 1 Samuel 10:25; 2 Samuel 15:1; Deuteronomy 17:14–20; 1 Kings 10:26
- 12 2 Chronicles 32:28–29; 1 Kings 4:27–28; 1 Kings 4:7; 1 Kings 4:22–23; 1 Samuel 22:7
- 14 Ezekiel 46:18; 1 Kings 21:7; 1 Samuel 22:7; 1 Kings 21:19
- 15 Daniel 1:7–10; Isaiah 39:7; Genesis 37:36; Daniel 1:3; Daniel 1:18
- 18 Micah 3:4; Proverbs 1:25–28; Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 8:21; Proverbs 21:13
- 19 Jeremiah 44:16; Ezekiel 33:31; Isaiah 66:4; Jeremiah 7:13; Psalm 81:11
- 20 1 Samuel 8:5; Exodus 33:16; Psalm 106:35; Leviticus 20:24–26; Deuteronomy 7:6
- 21 Judges 11:11
- 22 1 Samuel 8:7; Hosea 13:11
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Samuel also died a holy old man, leaving his sons as his successors. I seek for the punishment inflicted upon them, and according to men I find it not: but according to what I know the servants of God suffer every day, they were day by day punished.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)