What does 1 Samuel 8:16 mean?

The Israelites asked Samuel to give them a king, wanting to imitate surrounding cultures (1 Samuel 8:4–5). The Lord has told Samuel to allow this, even though it amounts to a rejection of God's authority (1 Samuel 8:7). First, Samuel is to tell the people everything they should expect a human king to take from them (1 Samuel 8:9). This is framed like a legal disclaimer, pointing out that Israel is taking on the drawbacks of a human king, as well as the benefits.

Describing how the king will confiscate their property, Samuel has already told the Israelites to expect the king to take the best privately-owned fields and vineyards for his servants. He may well take ten percent of the harvest from everyone else (1 Samuel 8:14–15).

Now Samuel adds that the king will even take from his citizens their own servants, male and female, along with best of their cattle and donkeys. Translators differ about whether the word for cattle should be understood as "young men." In either case, the Israelites should expect their king to take from them the best of their resources to serve his own purposes.