Samuel warned that a king would take sons for war and labor, daughters for service, and the best fields and produce. He also said the people would cry out because of their king, but the Lord would not answer. 1 Samuel 8:11–18
In 1 Samuel 8:10–18, Samuel reports Yahweh’s words to people asking for a king, warning them what royal rule typically does. This section sits inside the larger request-for-a-king episode in 1 Samuel 8. The elders have asked for a king “like all the nations,” and Yahweh instructs Samuel to listen but to warn them. Verses 10–18 are that warning speech, focused on consequences rather than debating motives.
Samuel’s speech is presented as Yahweh’s own warning, delivered through Samuel (verse 10). The repeated verb “he will take” (verses 11–17) builds a single point: centralized kingship normally pulls people, property, and produce into the king’s projects.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with 1 Samuel 8:11-18, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
11He said, This will be the manner of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them to him, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots;
12and he will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and [he will set some] to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots.
13He will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive groves, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15He will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16He will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your best young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.
17He will take the tenth of your flocks: and you shall be his servants.
18You shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you shall have chosen you; and Yahweh will not answer you in that day.