1 Samuel 8:22
in 1 Samuel 8“Listen to their voice,” the LORD said to Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.” Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Everyone must go back to his city.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
KJV
And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 8
Commentary
13 notes on this verseHearken unto their voice - Let them have what they desire, and let them abide the consequences. Go ye every man unto his city - It seems the elders of the people had tarried all this time with Samuel, and when he had received his ultimate answer from God, he told them of it and dismissed them. On this account we may observe: 1. That God did not change the government of Israel; it was the people themselves who changed it. 2. That though God permitted them to have a king, yet he did not approve of him.
This site's exposition
repeated them in the hearing of the LORD
on 1 Samuel 8:21-22
As at verse 6, Samuel takes the complaint back to God, and the answer is short: “Listen to their voice” and “Appoint a king for them”. God grants what he has named a rejection of himself, and Samuel sends the men of Israel home to wait. Judges ended with no king in Israel and everyone doing right in his own eyes, and this chapter answers what that book left open.
This site's exposition
Listen to their voice
The LORD tells Samuel to listen to the people for the third time, after verses 7 and 9. Albert Barnes reads the repetition as a mark of Samuel's own reluctance to appoint a king. Then Samuel sends every man home to his city.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
And Samuel said . . . Let each one return to his city. Even today, the divine word teaches that all who are obstinate and rebellious against the Lord should return individually to the heart's council from the public scene of obstinate contention; so that …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistCommentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 2 · Written before 604.
proposed
Whence also he who is declared to have spoken in the ears of the Lord is reported to have received His answers as well. For there follows: (Verse 22.) And the Lord said to Samuel: Listen to the voice of the people, and establish a king over them. 13. In this matter it should be noted that Samuel spoke the words of the people, by which they had asked for a king, in the ears of the Lord; and the Lord declares Himself rejected in the fact that the people ask for a king.
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistCommentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 4 · Written before 604.
proposed
Above, the prophet, foreseeing the future, said: "You will cry out to the Lord, and He will not hear you, because you asked for a king for yourselves." But now the Lord says: "Listen to their voice, and appoint a king over them." What is shown to us through this, except that it is often divinely inspired in the good rulers of holy Church to subject to the pursuits of the heavenly life those who are afterward not devout under the discipline of the same profession? These will indeed afterward cry out from before the face of their king, and yet by divine command they receive a king: because those are divinely inspired to approach the service of God devoutly whom the anxious care of pastors, involving great labor, must restrain under the bond of that same service for the increase of their eternal reward. They are said to cry out to the Lord from before the face of their king; but let the kings themselves hear what the prophet sent by the Lord responds, so that they may know what they ought to do amid those very outcries. "He will not hear you," he says. Therefore neither should they themselves give ear. For those who are lukewarm in holy monasteries must be healed, as though sick; they are not to be cast out, as though dead. For if they have been sent by the Lord, they will come to their senses amid the applications of spiritual ointments. Let the Lord therefore say: "Appoint a king over them": because indeed many come devoutly to the service of God who are then permitted to grow cold, but through the zeal of pastors—to whose authority they had submitted themselves by divine inspiration—they are rekindled to the love of the heavenly homeland.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Could they desire a battle better fought for them than the last was, by Samuel's prayers and God's thunders? Were they fond to try the chance of war, at the same uncertainty that others did? Their first king was slain in battle: and so was Joshua, one of the last and best.
): " Make them a king, and let them make their best of him, and thank themselves if that very pomp and power which they are so eager to see their sovereign in be their plague and burden." So he gave them up to their own hearts' lusts.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
1 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Could they desire a battle better fought for them than the last was, by Samuel's prayers and God's thunders? Were they fond to try the chance of war, at the same uncertainty that others did? Their first king was slain in battle: and so was Joshua, one of the last and best.
And the Lord said to Samuel,.... an audible voice, or by an impulse upon his mind: hearken unto their voice, and make them a king; since they will have a king, let them have one, and let them know that they shall have one: and Samuel said unto the men of Israel: the elders of the people that addressed him on this occasion, 1Sa 8:4. go ye every man unto his city; signifying they might return in peace, and be assured their request would be granted, and a king would be appointed in a short time, and which they might report to their fellow citizens; and they might expect to hear from him quickly, as soon as he had instructions from the Lord who should be their king, which right he had reserved to himself; and therefore in the mean while they might rest contented that they would have one in a little time.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel--They sneered at Samuel's description as a bugbear to frighten them. Determined, at all hazards, to gain their object, they insisted on being made like all the other nations, though it was their glory and happiness to be unlike other nations in having the Lord for their King and Lawgiver (Nu 23:9;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A repetition for the third time 1Sa 8:7, 1Sa 8:9 of the expression of God’s will in the matter, marks Samuel’s great unwillingness to comply with the people’s request. Besides the natural aversion which he felt to being thrust aside after so many years of faithful and laborious service, and the natural prejudice which he would feel at his age against a new form of government, he doubtless saw how much of the evil heart of unbelief there was in the desire to have a visible king for their leader, instead of trusting to the invisible Lord who had hitherto led them. But God had His own purpose in setting up the kingdom which was to be typical of the kingdom of His only begotten Son.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֨אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֤ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| שְׁמוּאֵל֙ | shemuel | Samuel | H8050 → | 141 times |
| שְׁמַ֣ע | shema' | listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| בְּקוֹלָ֔ם | bekolam | to voice their | H6963 → | 506 times |
| וְהִמְלַכְתָּ֥ | vehimlakhta | and you will make king | H4427 → | 348 times |
| לָהֶ֖ם | lahem | for <the> them | ||
| מֶ֑לֶךְ | melekh | a king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שְׁמוּאֵל֙ | shemuel | Samuel | H8050 → | 141 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אַנְשֵׁ֣י | ʾanshei | [the] people of | H582 → | 566 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| לְכ֖וּ | lekhu | go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| אִ֥ישׁ | ʾish | each man | H376 → | 1663 times |
| לְעִירֽוֹ׃ פ | leiro | to own city his | H5892 → | 1090 times |
וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֤הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
שְׁמוּאֵל֙Samuel
shemuelH8050 →141 times
שְׁמַ֣עlisten
shema'H8085 →1159 times
בְּקוֹלָ֔םto voice their
bekolamH6963 →506 times
וְהִמְלַכְתָּ֥and you will make king
vehimlakhtaH4427 →348 times
לָהֶ֖םfor <the> them
lahem
מֶ֑לֶךְa king
melekhH4428 →2525 times
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
שְׁמוּאֵל֙Samuel
shemuelH8050 →141 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אַנְשֵׁ֣י[the] people of
ʾansheiH582 →566 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
לְכ֖וּgo
lekhuH1980 →1546 times
אִ֥ישׁeach man
ʾishH376 →1663 times
לְעִירֽוֹ׃ פto own city his
leiroH5892 →1090 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Samuel 8:7And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as…
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 10:19
But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions, and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 10:16
Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
- Luke 19:27
And these enemies of mine who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and slay them in front of me.’”
- Exodus 16:8
And Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings…
- Luke 19:14
But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’
- 1 Samuel 10:19
Through
Hosea 13:11So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away.
it leads to
- Proverbs 28:2
A land in rebellion has many rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order.
- 1 Samuel 16:1
Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending…
- 1 Samuel 8:7–9
And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as…
- Proverbs 28:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 1 Samuel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 2; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.