Text -- 1 Samuel 8:15-22 (NET)

8:15 He will demand a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators and his servants. 8:16 He will take your male and female servants, as well as your best cattle and your donkeys, and assign them for his own use. 8:17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his servants. 8:18 In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you in that day.” 8:19 But the people refused to heed Samuel’s warning. Instead they said, “No! There will be a king over us! 8:20 We will be like all the other nations. Our king will judge us and lead us and fight our battles.” 8:21 So Samuel listened to everything the people said and then reported it to the Lord. 8:22 The Lord said to Samuel, “Do as they say and install a king over them.” Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Each of you go back to his own city.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Sa 8:15

¹ tn Or “eunuchs” (so NAB); NIV “officials”; KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT “officers.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 8:18

¹ tc The LXX adds “because you have chosen for yourselves a king.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 8:19

¹ tn Heb “and the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 8:20

¹ tn Heb “and go out before us.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 8:21

¹ tn Heb “and Samuel heard all the words of the people and he spoke them into the ears of the Lord.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 8:22

¹ tn Heb “listen to their voice.”