1 Samuel 8:5
New International Version
They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

New Living Translation
“Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”

English Standard Version
and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

Berean Standard Bible
“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.”

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

New American Standard Bible
and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

NASB 1995
and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.”

NASB 1977
and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.”

Legacy Standard Bible
and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.”

Amplified Bible
and said to him, “Look, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint us a king to judge us [and rule over us] like all the other nations.”

Christian Standard Bible
They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not follow your example. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”

American Standard Version
and they 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.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they said to him: “Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now give us a King, that he would judge us like all the nations!”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
and they said to him, Behold, thou art grown old, and thy sons walk not in thy way; and now set over us a king to judge us, as also the other nations have.

Contemporary English Version
and said, "You are an old man. You set a good example for your sons, but they haven't followed it. Now we want a king to be our leader, just like all the other nations. Choose one for us!"

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they said to him: Behold thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: make us a king, to judge us, as all nations have.

English Revised Version
and they 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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They told him, "You're old, and your sons aren't following your example. Now appoint a king to judge us so that we will be like all the other nations."

Good News Translation
and said to him, "Look, you are getting old and your sons don't follow your example. So then, appoint a king to rule over us, so that we will have a king, as other countries have."

International Standard Version
They told him, "Look, you're old, and your sons don't follow your example. So appoint a king to govern us like all the other nations."

JPS Tanakh 1917
And they 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.'

Literal Standard Version
and say to him, “Behold, you have become aged, and your sons have not walked in your ways; now, appoint a king to us, to judge us, like all the nations.”

Majority Standard Bible
“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.”

New American Bible
and said to him, “Now that you are old, and your sons do not follow your example, appoint a king over us, like all the nations, to rule us.”

NET Bible
They said to him, "Look, you are old, and your sons don't follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead us, just like all the other nations have."

New Revised Standard Version
and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.”

New Heart English Bible
and they said to him, "Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations."

Webster's Bible Translation
And said to 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.

World English Bible
They said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

Young's Literal Translation
and say unto him, 'Lo, thou hast become aged, and thy sons have not walked in thy ways; now, appoint to us a king, to judge us, like all the nations.'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Israel Demands a King
4So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 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.” 6But 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.…

Cross References
Acts 13:21
Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them forty years under Saul son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin.

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,"

Deuteronomy 17:15
you are to appoint over yourselves the king whom the LORD your God shall choose. Appoint a king from among your brothers; you are not to set over yourselves a foreigner who is not one of your brothers.

1 Samuel 8:20
Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles."

1 Samuel 9:20
As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them, for they have been found. And upon whom is all the desire of Israel, if not upon you and all your father's house?"

1 Samuel 12:2
Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.

1 Samuel 12:13
Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you requested. Behold, the LORD has placed a king over you.


Treasury of Scripture

And said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons walk not in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

now make

1 Samuel 8:6-8,19,20
But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD…

1 Samuel 12:17
Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.

Numbers 23:9
For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

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Aged Appoint Judge Lead Nations Walk Walked Ways
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Aged Appoint Judge Lead Nations Walk Walked Ways
1 Samuel 8
1. By occasion of the ill government of Samuel's sons, the Israelites ask a king
6. Samuel praying in grief is comforted by God
10. He tells the manner of a king
19. God wills Samuel to yield unto the importunity of the people














(5) And said unto him.--They ground their request--which, however, they framed almost in the very terms used in the prophecy of the Law (Deuteronomy 17:14)--upon two circumstances: first, the age of Samuel, and his consequent inability to act as their leader in those perpetual wars and forays with the surrounding hostile nations; secondly, the degeneracy of his sons, who, placed by their father in positions of great trust, naturally looked to succeed him in his high dignity. They felt that the cares and duties of government were too weighty for Samuel, now growing old; and the men who through their kinship to him would naturally succeed him were utterly unfit for his office. The prospect before them was, they felt, a gloomy one. The Philistine power, too, was becoming daily greater in the south.

But what confidence must this assembly of elders have reposed in their aged judge to have used such a plea--his own growing infirmity and the unworthiness of his own sons, whom he had himself appointed to high offices! The elders of the people knew Samuel, the man of God, would do what was right and just--would give them the wisest counsel, utterly regardless of any private interest or feeling. The result justified their perfect confidence.



Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
“Look,”
הִנֵּה֙ (hin·nêh)
Interjection
Strong's 2009: Lo! behold!

they said,
וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ (way·yō·mə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“you
אַתָּ֣ה (’at·tāh)
Pronoun - second person masculine singular
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

are old,
זָקַ֔נְתָּ (zā·qan·tā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 2204: To be or become old

and your sons
וּבָנֶ֕יךָ (ū·ḇā·ne·ḵā)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1121: A son

do not
לֹ֥א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

walk
הָלְכ֖וּ (hā·lə·ḵū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

in your ways.
בִּדְרָכֶ֑יךָ (biḏ·rā·ḵe·ḵā)
Preposition-b | Noun - common plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action

Now
עַתָּ֗ה (‘at·tāh)
Adverb
Strong's 6258: At this time

appoint
שִֽׂימָה־ (śî·māh-)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 7760: Put -- to put, place, set

a king
מֶ֛לֶךְ (me·leḵ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king

to judge us
לְשָׁפְטֵ֖נוּ (lə·šā·p̄ə·ṭê·nū)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct | first person common plural
Strong's 8199: To judge, pronounce sentence, to vindicate, punish, to govern, to litigate

like all
כְּכָל־ (kə·ḵāl-)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

the other nations.”
הַגּוֹיִֽם׃ (hag·gō·w·yim)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1471: A foreign nation, a Gentile, a troop of animals, a flight of locusts


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OT History: 1 Samuel 8:5 And they said to him Behold you (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 8:4
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