Bible Strands
1 Samuel 12:2
Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Samuel addresses the assembled Israelites at the transition of judicial leadership, presenting the newly anointed king while noting his own advanced age and the presence of his sons.
The words — הִנֵּה (hi.Neh) means "here!" or "behold," and זָקַנְתִּי (za.Kan.ti) translates literally as "I am old," both anchoring the speaker’s physical condition to the present moment.
The thread — This scene directly responds to the elders’ complaint in 1 Samuel 8:5 that Samuel grew old and his sons did not walk in his ways, fulfilling their stated desire in 1 Samuel 8:20 to have a king who goes out before them and fights their battles.
Why it lands — The text requires a public inventory of leadership conduct by juxtaposing the reality of aging with a record of service, demanding that the reader assess whether authority has been exercised with accountability rather than self-preservation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 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.”
- 1 Samuel 8:1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.
- 1 Samuel 8:20 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.”
- Numbers 27:17 who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
- 1 Samuel 3:19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and He let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.
- 1 Samuel 8:3 But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside toward dishonest gain, accepting bribes and perverting justice.
- 1 Samuel 2:22 Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
- 1 Samuel 2:29 Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’
- 1 Samuel 3:13 I told him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity of which he knows, because his sons blasphemed God and he did not restrain them.
- 1 Samuel 3:16 but Eli called to him and said, “Samuel, my son.” “Here I am,” answered Samuel.