The People of Israel Want a King

^1-2Samuel had two sons. The older one was Joel, and the younger one was Abijah. When Samuel was getting old, he let them be leaders at Beersheba.

³But they were not like their father. They were dishonest and accepted bribes to give unfair decisions.

⁴One day the nation's leaders came to Samuel at Ramah

⁵and 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!”[#Dt 17.14.]

⁶Samuel was upset to hear the leaders say they wanted a king, so he prayed about it.

⁷The Lord answered:

¹⁰Samuel told the people who were asking for a king what the Lord had said:

^19-20The people would not listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want to be like other nations. We want a king to rule us and lead us in battle.”

²¹Samuel listened to them and then told the Lord exactly what they had said.

²²“Do what they want,” the Lord answered. “Give them a king.”

Samuel told the people to go back to their homes.