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1 Samuel 8:4

in 1 Samuel 8

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah;

KJV

Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,

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This verse in 1 Samuel 8

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together,.... At some place of rendezvous appointed; these were the heads of the tribes, and fathers of the houses and families of Israel, the principal persons of age and authority: and came to Samuel unto Ramah; the place of his nativity and abode, and where he now dwelt, and judged Israel; they went in a very respectable body with an address to him.

This site's exposition

all the elders of Israel gathered together

on 1 Samuel 8:4-6

The elders come to Ramah and ask, “Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations”, the words Deuteronomy 17:14 foretold Israel would one day say. The complaint against his sons is real, yet the demand asks for the form every nation around Israel had. Samuel takes it as a personal grievance and prays, and the Lord's answer in verse 7 corrects him.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

Therefore, all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel, etc. Therefore, after the ascension of the Lord, all the elders of carnal Israel gathered together against him, and sent out to follow him into Ramah, that is, into the heights of heaven, …

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 1 · Written before 604.

proposed

3. But for those who were living under spiritual governance, to ask for a king—what else is it than to eagerly desire to transform that same spiritual leadership into secular domination? Yet when holy men see that they are despised by their subjects, what displeases them is not so much that they are despised, but that those who despise them do not please God.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

They knew it was in vain to court Samuel to take upon him the title and dignity of a king, but he must appoint them one. They do not say, "Give us a king that is wise and good, and will judge better than thy sons do," but, "Give us a king," any body that will but make a figure.

The words behind it

8 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיִּֽתְקַבְּצ֔וּand they gathered together

    vaiyitkabetzuH6908 →127 times

  • כֹּ֖לall

    kolH3605 →5413 times

  • זִקְנֵ֣י[the] elders of

    zikneiH2205 →178 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • וַיָּבֹ֥אוּand they came

    vaiyavouH935 →2568 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • שְׁמוּאֵ֖לSamuel

    shemuelH8050 →141 times

  • הָרָמָֽתָה׃<the> Ramah towards

    haramatahH7414 →36 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

6 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

2 Samuel 5:3So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, where King David made with them a covenant before the LORD. And they anointed him king over Israel.3 works1 Samuel 7:17Then he would return to Ramah because his home was there, and there he judged Israel and built an altar to the LORD.3 worksExodus 24:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders—and you are to worship at a distance.2 worksExodus 3:16Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.2 works1 Kings 21:7But his wife Jezebel said to him, “Do you not reign over Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful, for I will get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”2 worksHosea 5:8Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; raise the battle cry in Beth-aven: Lead on, O Benjamin!2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Exodus 3:16

    Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you…

    it leads to

    • Psalms 8:4

      what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?

    • Exodus 4:29

      Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites,

    • Exodus 4:31

      and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.

    • Genesis 50:24

      Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac,…

    • Acts 15:14

      Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own.

  • Through

    Exodus 24:1

    Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders—and you are to worship at a distance.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 11:16

      Then the LORD said to Moses, “Bring Me seventy of the elders of Israel known to you as leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and have them…

  • Through

    2 Samuel 5:3

    So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, where King David made with them a covenant before the LORD. And they anointed him king over Israel.

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 2:4

      Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.”

    • 1 Samuel 16:13

      So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and…

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About 1 Samuel

Anointing of David by Samuel, Félix-Joseph Barrias, 1842, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris. Public domain.
Anointing of David by Samuel, Félix-Joseph Barrias, 1842, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris. Public domain.
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 8 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 1; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Samuel 8 →