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Samuel was displeased when they said, “Give us a king to rule us.” But he prayed to the Lord. The Lord said: Listen to whatever the people say. You are not the one they are rejecting. They are rejecting me as their king.(A)

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Persistent Demand. 19 The people, however, refused to listen to Samuel’s warning and said, “No! There must be a king over us.(A)

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Chapter 11

Defeat of the Ammonites. [a]About a month later, Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead. All the people of Jabesh begged Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”(A) But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “This is my condition for making a treaty with you: I will gouge out the right eye of every man,[b] and thus bring shame on all Israel.”

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Footnotes

  1. 11:1 A text from Qumran (1QSama) introduces this chapter with the report that Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had attacked the Gadites and the Reubenites, gouging out their right eyes. Seven thousand of them had fled to Jabesh-gilead. This additional information would explain why Nahash besieged Jabesh-gilead. There is no consensus among scholars whether the Qumran text represents an original reading or a secondary expansion.
  2. 11:2 Right eye of every man: thus rendering them incapable of military action.

23 But Gideon answered them, “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you. The Lord must rule over you.”(A)

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