4Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah, 5And said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now make us a king to judge us like all the nations”. 6But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, “Give us a king to judge us”. And Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to what the people say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. 8According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, as they have forsaken Me, and served other gods, so do they also to you. 9Now, therefore, listen to their voice; but protest solemnly to them, and tell them the manner of the king who shall reign over them.”

10And Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked him for a king. 11And he said, “This will be the kind of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. 12And he will appoint captains over thousands, and over fifties; and will have them plow his ground, reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive yards, and give them to his servants. 15And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 16And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your choicest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17He will take the tenth of your sheep; and you shall be his servants. 18And you shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you shall have chosen; and the LORD will not hear you in that day”.

19Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No; we want to have a king over us; 20That we may be like other nations; that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles”. 21And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he reported them to the LORD. 22And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to them, and make them a king”. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Let everyone return to his city.