Bible Strands
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.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The elders of Israel gather at Ramah and address Samuel directly, citing his advancing age and the conduct of his sons as the immediate context for their request. They speak to him as the sitting judge to demand a monarchical replacement.
The words — זָקַ֔נְתָּ (za.Kan.ta) literally means "you have become old," and הָלְכ֖וּ (ha.le.Khu) translates as "they have walked." These verbs ground the elders' complaint in Samuel's physical decline and his sons' moral deviation.
The thread — The demand for a king "like all the other nations" parallels the conditional monarchy outlined in Deuteronomy 17:14. The people's subsequent refusal to accept Samuel's counsel is recorded in 1 Samuel 8:19, and Samuel's immediate reaction to the request is noted in 1 Samuel 8:6.
Why it lands — The verse records a direct institutional critique that replaces prophetic oversight with a standardized political structure. It requires the reader to evaluate the practical consequences of substituting human governance for the existing divine arrangement.
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 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.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 17:14 When 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 Samuel 8:19 Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.
- 1 Samuel 8:6 But 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.
- Hosea 13:10 Where is your king now to save you in all your cities, and the rulers to whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?
- Numbers 23:9 For 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.
- 1 Samuel 12:17 Is 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.”
- Acts 13:21 Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years.