1 Samuel 8:18

18 When that time comes, you will complain bitterly because of your king, whom you yourselves chose, but the Lord will not listen to your complaints."

1 Samuel 8:18 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 8:18

And ye shall cry out in that day, because of your king
His power and pride, his oppression and tyranny, his heavy exactions, and intolerable yoke, and yet not be able to free themselves from them; all that they could do would be only to cry out under them as grievously distressed, and not knowing how to help themselves; and which would be the more aggravated, because they brought all this upon themselves, as it follows:

which ye shall have chosen you;
for though the choice of a king for them, at a proper time, God had reserved to himself, yet in later times, as is here suggested, they would choose for themselves, and did, see ( Hosea 8:4 ) besides, to have a king in general was at first their own choice, though the particular person was by the designation of the Lord:

and the Lord will not hear you in that day;
will not regard them, have no compassion on them, suffer them to remain under their oppressions, and not deliver them out of them; because they rejected him from being their King, and put themselves out of his protection, into the hands of another, and therefore it was just to leave them to their own choice.

1 Samuel 8:18 In-Context

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.
18 When that time comes, you will complain bitterly because of your king, whom you yourselves chose, but the Lord will not listen to your complaints."
19 The people paid no attention to Samuel, but said, "No! We want a king,
20 so that we will be like other nations, with our own king to rule us and to lead us out to war and to fight our battles."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.