Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

1 Samuel 8
⁶ Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the LORD for guidance.
⁷ “Do everything they say to you,” the LORD replied, “for it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.
⁸ Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment.
⁹ Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”
¹⁰ So Samuel passed on the LORD’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king.
¹¹ “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots.
¹² Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment.
¹³ The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him.
¹⁴ He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials.
¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants.
¹⁶ He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use.