1 Samuel 8:1
New International Version
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders.

New Living Translation
As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel.

English Standard Version
When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel.

Berean Standard Bible
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.

King James Bible
And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

New King James Version
Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel.

New American Standard Bible
Now it came about, when Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.

NASB 1995
And it came about when Samuel was old that he appointed his sons judges over Israel.

NASB 1977
And it came about when Samuel was old that he appointed his sons judges over Israel.

Legacy Standard Bible
And it happened when Samuel was old that he appointed his sons judges over Israel.

Amplified Bible
And it came about when Samuel was old that he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.

Christian Standard Bible
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.

American Standard Version
And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And it was that when Shemueil was old, he made his sons Judges over Israel

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And it came to pass when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And it came to pass when Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel.

English Revised Version
And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.

Good News Translation
When Samuel grew old, he made his sons judges in Israel.

International Standard Version
When Samuel became old, he appointed his sons judges over Israel.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

Literal Standard Version
And it comes to pass, when Samuel [is] aged, that he makes his sons judges over Israel.

Majority Standard Bible
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.

New American Bible
In his old age Samuel appointed his sons judges over Israel.

NET Bible
In his old age Samuel appointed his sons as judges over Israel.

New Revised Standard Version
When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel.

New Heart English Bible
It happened, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

Webster's Bible Translation
And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

World English Bible
When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.

Young's Literal Translation
And it cometh to pass, when Samuel is aged, that he maketh his sons judges over Israel.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Israel Demands a King
1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. 2The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 16:18
You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

Deuteronomy 16:19
Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

1 Samuel 12:2
Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.


Treasury of Scripture

And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

A.

Deuteronomy 16:18,19
Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment…

Judges 8:22,23
Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian…

2 Chronicles 19:5,6
And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, …

sons judges

Judges 5:10
Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.

Judges 10:4
And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havothjair unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead.

Judges 12:14
And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years.

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Aged Appointed Israel Judges Maketh Samuel
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Aged Appointed Israel Judges Maketh Samuel
1 Samuel 8
1. By occasion of the ill government of Samuel's sons, the Israelites ask a king
6. Samuel praying in grief is comforted by God
10. He tells the manner of a king
19. God wills Samuel to yield unto the importunity of the people














(1) When Samuel was old.--We are not able with any precision to fix the dates of Samuel's life. When the great disaster happened which resulted in the capture of the Ark of God and Eli's death. the young prophet was barely thirty years old. For the next twenty years we have seen how unweariedly he laboured to awaken in the people a sense of their deep degradation and of the real causes of their fallen state. Thus, when the great revolt and the Israelite victory at Eben-ezer took place, Samuel the judge was probably nearly fifty years of age. Another considerable apse of time must be assumed between the day of the uprising of the people and the throwing off the Philistine yoke and the events related at such length in the present chapter--the request of the people for an earthly king; for we must allow a sufficient lapse of time for the Philistines to have recovered the effects of their defeat at Eben-ezer, and again to have established themselves in power, at least in the southern districts of Canaan. A famous Hebrew commentator suggests seventy years of age as the most likely time of life. This supposition is, likely enough, a correct one.

The following little table, showing the events in the life of Samuel, will assist the student of the Bible story:--

1st period, 12 years 2 period about 15 to 20 years.

The child life in the Tabernacle service, under the guardianship of Eli. The boy is called by the holy Voice to be a prophet; Josephus states that this happened in his twelfth year. The boy-prophet remains in Shiloh The people gradually come to the knowledge that a new prophet had risen up among them. He stays with Eli until his death, after the disastrous battle of Aphek and the capture of the Ark. Shiloh was probably destroyed by the Philistines after the battle of Aphek.

3rd period, 20 year.

He works unweariedly up and down among the people, and rouses them to renounce idolatry, and under the Eternal's protection to win their freedom.

4th period, probably nearly 20 years. 5th period.

Samuel judges Israel, now a free nation, again. The Eternal God-Friend acknowledged by the people as King. Samuel the seer and judge and Saul the king govern Israel.

(2) They were judges in Beer-sheba.--It was natural that the father, as the infirmities of old age were beginning to make his toilsome life more burden some, should turn to his sons, and endeavour to train them up to share in his high duties, but beyond the natural regret of a father that the honours and dignities he had himself so hardly won should pass from his house for ever, no murmur seems to have escaped Samuel's lips when the will of the Eternal was made known to him; and the aged prophet, forgetting he had sons and a house which bore his name, was the principal agent in the establishment of the king, in whom all the powers of the judge were to be merged. It is probable that at the time when old age was beginning to enfeeble the strength of Samuel, and many of the duties devolved upon his worthless sons, the Philistines recovered much of their lost power over the southern districts of Israel. The names of these sons are especially significant of the holy atmosphere their father lived in. Joel signifies Jehovah is God; and Abiah, Jehovah a Father. But the glorious traditions of Samuel were quickly forgotten by these unworthy men who called him father. Josephus supplements the Biblical record by stating that while one of these sons remained in Beer-sheba, the other "judged" in the north of the land.

Verse 1. - When Samuel was old. As Samuel lived for very many years after this time, till towards the close of Saul's reign, he was probably not more than sixty when this happened. The dates are all very uncertain, but he was probably between twenty and thirty when Shiloh was captured, and no doubt, according to Israelite custom, had married as soon as he arrived at manhood. Then came the most important and active period of his life, during which the ark rested for twenty years in the house of Abinadab, and Samuel was traversing every part of the country, preaching repentance, and preparing the people for a revolt from the tyranny of the Philistines. Upon this followed the victory at Mizpah, and the establishment of Samuel as judge. Now some considerable time would elapse before Samuel so felt the weight of increasing years as to delegate a part of his authority to his sons, and more again before the national discontent at their covetousness became general. The Talmud, however, represents Samuel as being at this time only fifty-two years of age, while Abravanel says seventy, and the latter number is by no means impossible; for as a Nazarite Samuel would lead a life of perfect temperance, and his predecessor Eli lived to be ninety-eight, and died then by an accident. Still, probably, Abravanel's calculation is too high, and we must remember that besides the misconduct of Samuel's sons, there was the growing danger of the re-establishment of the domination of the Philistines to quicken the people's movements. They had garrisons again in Israel when Saul was chosen king, and it was this which made the nation long for a change, but. their choice would probably have fallen upon one of Samuel's sons had either of them been worthy. A king they had long wished for; it is only when they saw that none of Samuel's race would give them internal peace and security that they took public action for the appointment of some one else.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
When
כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר (ka·’ă·šer)
Preposition-k | Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

Samuel
שְׁמוּאֵ֑ל (šə·mū·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 8050: Samuel -- 'name of God', a prophet of Israel

grew old,
זָקֵ֖ן (zā·qên)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2204: To be or become old

he appointed
וַיָּ֧שֶׂם (way·yā·śem)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7760: Put -- to put, place, set

his sons
בָּנָ֛יו (bā·nāw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 1121: A son

as judges
שֹׁפְטִ֖ים (šō·p̄ə·ṭîm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 8199: To judge, pronounce sentence, to vindicate, punish, to govern, to litigate

over Israel.
לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (lə·yiś·rā·’êl)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc


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OT History: 1 Samuel 8:1 It happened when Samuel was old that (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 7:17
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