They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king(A) to lead[a](B) us, such as all the other nations(C) have.”

But when they said, “Give us a king(D) to lead us,” this displeased(E) Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen(F) to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected,(G) but they have rejected me as their king.(H)

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Footnotes

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

12 “But when you saw that Nahash(A) king(B) of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule(C) over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king.

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14 “‘In the morning, present(A) yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord chooses(B) shall come forward clan by clan; the clan the Lord chooses shall come forward family by family; and the family the Lord chooses shall come forward man by man.

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The Covenant Renewed at Shechem

24 Then Joshua assembled(A) all the tribes of Israel at Shechem.(B) He summoned(C) the elders,(D) leaders, judges and officials of Israel,(E) and they presented themselves before God.

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