Bible in Basic English
"As they have done from the first, from the day when I took them out of Egypt till this day, turning away from me and worshipping other gods, so now they are acting in the same way to you."
— 1 Samuel 8:8, Bible in Basic English
And said to him, See now, you are old, and your sons do not go in your ways: give us a king now to be our judge, so that we may be like the other nations.
But Samuel was not pleased when they said to him, Give us a king to be our judge. And Samuel made prayer to the Lord.
And the Lord said to Samuel, Give ear to the voice of the people and what they say to you: they have not been turned away from you, but they have been turned away from me, not desiring me to be king over them.
As they have done from the first, from the day when I took them out of Egypt till this day, turning away from me and worshipping other gods, so now they are acting in the same way to you.
Give ear now to their voice: but make a serious protest to them, and give them a picture of the sort of king who will be their ruler.
And Samuel said all these words of the Lord to the people who were desiring a king.
And he said, This is the sort of king who will be your ruler: he will take your sons and make them his servants, his horsemen, and drivers of his war-carriages, and they will go running before his war-carriages;