1-2 Samuel had 2 sons. His older son was called Joel, his younger son was called Abijah. After Samuel became an old man, he picked them to be bosses for the Israel mob. They were court judges, working at the place called Beersheba. 3 But they were not like their father. They were greedy. They thought only about money. Bad men used to give them money in a quiet way, and then they used to let those bad men go free.

4 So all the elders of Israel met together at the town called Ramah, to talk to Samuel. 5 They said, “You are an old man now. Your sons don’t live straight like you, so they shouldn’t be judges for us. You have to pick one man to be the big boss for us. In other countries they have one big boss. We want to be the same as them.”[a]

6 Samuel wasn’t happy about that, so he prayed to God. 7 God said to him, “Listen to them. Do what they are asking. They don’t hate you. Really it’s me they hate. They hate their God. They don’t want me to be their boss any more. 8 That’s the way it was a long time ago, while I led their grand-fathers back from that country called Egypt. They used to turn away from me and show respect to gods from other places. Today they still do the same thing. And now they don’t want you or your family to be bosses either. 9 But it’s good to listen to them. Let them have a big boss. But warn them carefully, ‘If you have that sort of big boss, he will make it hard for you mob. He will make you do all kinds of hard things for him.’ ”

10 Samuel told that story to the elders, just as God told it to him.

19 But they didn’t listen to him. They said, “No. We want a big boss. 20 In other places there is a big boss. We want that here too. We want a big boss to lead us whenever we fight with other mobs.”

21 Samuel told God everything that the elders said to him. 22 God said, “Listen to them. Do as they ask. Give them a big boss.”

So Samuel said to the elders, “All right. I’ll do that. So go back home now, all of you.”

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