1 Samuel 8:20

BSB · Public Domain (CC0)

“Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.””

What this verse means

A short, plain-language explanation of 1 Samuel 8:20 goes here — the kind of answer a reader (or an AI assistant) can quote in one breath. Original meaning coming soon.

Compare translations
BSBPD

“Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.””

Berean Standard Bible · Public Domain (CC0)
KJVPD

“That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.”

King James Version · Public Domain
ASVPD

“that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.”

American Standard Version · Public Domain
YLTPD

“and we have been, even we, like all the nations; and our king hath judged us, and gone out before us, and fought our battles.'”

Young's Literal Translation · Public Domain
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Cross references

Other passages that echo 1 Samuel 8:20 — 12 related verses from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  1. Exodus 33:16For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
  2. Leviticus 20:24But I have told you that you will inherit their land, since I will give it to you as an inheritance—a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the peoples.
  3. Numbers 23:9For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. Behold, a people dwelling apart, not reckoning themselves among the nations.
  4. Deuteronomy 7:6For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.
  5. 1 Samuel 8:5“Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”
  6. 1 Samuel 12:12But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’—even though the LORD your God was your king.
  7. Psalms 106:35but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
  8. John 15:19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
  9. Romans 12:12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.
  10. 2 Corinthians 6:17“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
  11. Philippians 3:20But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
  12. 1 Peter 2:9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Cross-reference data: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain) via OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

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