They said to him, ‘You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead[a] us, such as all the other nations have.’

But when they said, ‘Give us a king to lead us,’ this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 8:5 Traditionally judge; also in verses 6 and 20