1 Samuel 8:9
in 1 Samuel 8Now listen to them, but you must solemnly warn them and show them the manner of the king who will reign over them.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit thou shalt protest solemnly unto them, and shalt show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
KJV
Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
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This verse in 1 Samuel 8
Commentary
8 notes on this verseShow them the manner of the king - The word משפט mishpat, which we here render manner, signifies simply what the king would and might require, according to the manner in which kings in general ruled; all of whom, in those times, were absolute and despotic.
This site's exposition
they have rejected Me as their king
on 1 Samuel 8:7-9
The Lord reframes the request at once: “it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king”. Verse 8 sets it inside a pattern of forsaking that runs back to Egypt. God still tells Samuel to grant it after warning them, so “the manner of the king who will reign over them” is the plain cost of trading a divine king for a human one.
This site's exposition
Now listen to them
Adam Clarke reads the manner of the king as the demands every king of that day made on the people under his reign. Gregory the Dialogist hears mercy in the warning, given so the people might drop their demand. Matthew Henry adds that they would regret the king too late.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Now therefore listen to their voice, etc. And these most fittingly apply to the person of the Father speaking to the Son: "Let them go according to the desires of their hearts, and they will go in their own wills" (Psalm LXXX). However, testify to …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistCommentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 1 · Written before 604.
proposed
8. As if by an open display of clemency He says: So hear their voices, yet let them first hear concerning the right of the king whom they seek, something that will make them tremble; and let them then abandon what was badly begun, when the thing they were seeking is recognized to be how burdensome it is. There follows: (Verses 10-17.) So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked him for a king, and said: This will be the right of the king who is to rule over you.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Rather than so, let them have a king. [3.] God knows how to bring glory to himself out of it, and to serve his own wise purposes even by their foolish counsels. (2.) But he must tell them, withal, that when they have a king they will soon have enough of him, and will, when it is too late, repent of their choice.
Now therefore hearken unto their voice,....
Those that submit to the government of the world and the flesh are told plainly what hard masters they are, and what a tyranny the dominion of sin is; and yet they will exchange God's government for it. Samuel's faithful delivery of God's mind to them,
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעַתָּ֖ה | veatah | and now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| שְׁמַ֣ע | shema' | listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| בְּקוֹלָ֑ם | bekolam | to voice their | H6963 → | 506 times |
| אַ֗ךְ | ʾakh | nevertheless | H389 → | 161 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הָעֵ֤ד | haed | certainly <to warn> | H5749 → | |
| תָּעִיד֙ | taid | you will warn | H5749 → | |
| בָּהֶ֔ם | bahem | <in> <the> them | ||
| וְהִגַּדְתָּ֣ | vehigadta | and you will tell | H5046 → | 370 times |
| לָהֶ֔ם | lahem | to <the> them | ||
| מִשְׁפַּ֣ט | mishpat | [the] right[s] of | H4941 → | 422 times |
| הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יִמְלֹ֖ךְ | yimlokh | he will reign | H4427 → | 348 times |
| עֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ ס | ʾaleihem | over them | H5921 → | 5755 times |
וְעַתָּ֖הand now
veatahH6258 →433 times
שְׁמַ֣עlisten
shema'H8085 →1159 times
בְּקוֹלָ֑םto voice their
bekolamH6963 →506 times
אַ֗ךְnevertheless
ʾakhH389 →161 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
הָעֵ֤דcertainly <to warn>
haedH5749 →
תָּעִיד֙you will warn
taidH5749 →
בָּהֶ֔ם<in> <the> them
bahem
וְהִגַּדְתָּ֣and you will tell
vehigadtaH5046 →370 times
לָהֶ֔םto <the> them
lahem
מִשְׁפַּ֣ט[the] right[s] of
mishpatH4941 →422 times
הַמֶּ֔לֶךְthe king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יִמְלֹ֖ךְhe will reign
yimlokhH4427 →348 times
עֲלֵיהֶֽם׃ סover them
ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 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
Ezekiel 3:18If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 33:6
But if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to blow the horn to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes away a life, then that one will be taken away…
- James 5:19–20
My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,
- Ezekiel 3:20
Now if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die in his…
- Acts 20:26–27
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
- Ezekiel 33:8–10
If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ but you do not speak out to dissuade him from his way, then that wicked man will die in his iniquity,…
- Ezekiel 33:6
Through
1 Samuel 10:25Then Samuel explained to the people the rights of kingship. He wrote them on a scroll and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own…
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 8:11–18
He said, “This will be the manner of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them to his own chariots and horses, to run in front of…
- Deuteronomy 17:14–20
When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like…
- 1 Samuel 8:11–18
Through
Ezekiel 46:18The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people by evicting them from their property. He is to provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 45:8
This land will be his possession in Israel. And My princes will no longer oppress My people, but will give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
- Ezekiel 45:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 1 Samuel
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); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.