1 Kings 10:25
And Samuel told the people the law of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord: and Samuel sent away all the people, every one to his own house.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Locutus est autem Samuel ad populum legem regni, et scripsit in libro, et reposuit coram Domino : et dimisit Samuel omnem populum, singulos in domum suam.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Καὶ εἶπεν Σαμουὴλ πρὸς τὸν λαὸν τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ ἔγραψεν ἐν βιβλίῳ καὶ ἔθηκεν ἐνώπιον Κυρίου· καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν Σαμουὴλ πάντα τὸν λαόν, καὶ ἀπῆλθεν ἕκαστος εἰς τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיְדַבֵּ֨ר שְׁמוּאֵ֜ל אֶל הָעָ֗ם אֵ֚ת מִשְׁפַּ֣ט הַמְּלֻכָ֔ה וַיִּכְתֹּ֣ב בַּסֵּ֔פֶר וַיַּנַּ֖ח לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה וַיְשַׁלַּ֧ח שְׁמוּאֵ֛ל אֶת כָּל הָעָ֖ם אִ֥ישׁ לְבֵיתֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
Before the Lord. It seems that the ark was therefore present. This record of Samuel is lost, so that we cannot determine what laws he prescribed on this occasion. (Calmet)
Josephus ([Antiquities?] vi. 5.) says that he wrote and read in the hearing of all, and in the presence of the king, what evils would ensue under the regal government; and deposited the writing in the tabernacle, that the truth of the prediction might be ascertained. He probably alludes to the denunciation of tyranny, which had been made [in] chap. viii., and which he says Samuel repeated on this occasion. But the prophet would also take a copy of the law of the kingdom, prescribed by Moses, (Deuteronomy xvii.) and deliver it to Saul, that he might make it the rule of his conduct, and not imitate the wicked customs of tyrants. (Haydock)
The whole process of this memorable event he would also write down, (Menochius) as we read it at present in this chapter, placing it in the proper order, as a continuation of the sacred history which Moses and Josue had commenced; and like them, depositing the sacred volume beside the ark, or in the tabernacle. See Josue xxiv. 26. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace, Scriptural Instances Wherein It is Proved that God Has Men’s Wills More in His Power Than They Themselves Have
It is not, then, to be doubted that men’s wills cannot, so as to prevent His doing what he wills, withstand the will of God, “who hath done all things whatsoever He pleased in heaven and in earth,” and who also “has done those things that are to come;” since He does even concerning the wills themselves of men what He will, when He will. Unless, perchance (to mention some things among many), when God willed to give the kingdom to Saul, it was so in the power of the Israelites, as it certainly was placed in their will, either to subject themselves or not to the man in question, that they could even prevail to withstand God. God, however, did not do this, save by the will of the men themselves, because he beyond doubt had the most omnipotent power of inclining men’s hearts whither it pleased Him. …