1 Samuel 8:7-17

7 and the Lord said, "Listen to everything the people say to you. You are not the one they have rejected; I am the one they have rejected as their king.
8 Ever since I brought them out of Egypt, they have turned away from me and worshiped other gods; and now they are doing to you what they have always done to me.
9 So then, listen to them, but give them strict warnings and explain how their kings will treat them."
10 Samuel told the people who were asking him for a king everything that the Lord had said to him.
11 "This is how your king will treat you," Samuel explained. "He will make soldiers of your sons; some of them will serve in his war chariots, others in his cavalry, and others will run before his chariots.
12 He will make some of them officers in charge of a thousand men, and others in charge of fifty men. Your sons will have to plow his fields, harvest his crops, and make his weapons and the equipment for his chariots.
13 Your daughters will have to make perfumes for him and work as his cooks and his bakers.
14 He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his officials.
15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your grapes for his court officers and other officials.
16 He will take your servants and your best cattle and donkeys, and make them work for him.
17 He will take a tenth of your flocks. And you yourselves will become his slaves.

1 Samuel 8:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 8

This chapter relates, how that Samuel being old, and his sons behaving ill, the people desired to have a king set over them, 1Sa 8:1-5, which case Samuel laid before the Lord, and he was directed by him to yield to the people's desire, but at the same time to set before them all the disadvantages and ill consequences that would arise from thence, which he did, 1Sa 8:6-18, but they insisting upon it, nevertheless, he gave them reason to expect that their request would be granted, 1Sa 8:19-22.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. [One ancient translation] cattle; [Hebrew] young men.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.