1 Samuel 8

¹And it came to pass when Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel.

²Now the name of his firstborn son was Joel: and the name of the second was Abia, judges in Bersabee.

³And his sons walked not in his ways: but they turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

⁴Then all the ancients of Israel being assembled, came to Samuel to Ramatha.

⁵And 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.

⁶And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord.

⁷And the Lord said to Samuel: Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee. For they have not rejected thee, but me, that I should not reign over them.

⁸According to all their works, they have done from the day that I brought them out of Egypt until this day: as they have forsaken me, and served strange gods, so do they also unto thee.

⁹Now therefore hearken to their voice: but yet testify to them, and foretell them the right of the king, that shall reign over them.

¹⁰Then Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people that had desired a king of him,

¹¹And said: This will be the right of the king, that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and put them in his chariots, and will make them his horsemen, and his running footmen to run before his chariots,