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.

who shall go out before them and go in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of Jehovah not be like sheep which have no shepherd.

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

and said to him, Behold, you have become old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint us a king to judge us like all the nations.

And now when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not leave me, until I have declared Your strength to this generation, and Your power to everyone who is to come.

Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who were carried by Me from the belly, who were sustained from the womb;

even to your old age, I am He; and to the gray hairs I will bear you. I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ made known to me.

Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tent of meeting.

Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded for My dwelling place, and honor your sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?

For I have declared to him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he has known, because his sons are being despicable, and he has not restrained them.

Then Eli summoned Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here I am.

But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

And Samuel grew, and Jehovah was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.

And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was being established as a prophet of Jehovah.