Principles Governing Kings

14 “When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, r‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you shall surely set a king over you swhom the Lord your God chooses; one tfrom among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 But he shall not multiply uhorses for himself, nor cause the people vto return to Egypt to multiply horses, for wthe Lord has said to you, x‘You shall not return that way again.’ 17 Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and ygold for himself.

18 “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one zbefore the priests, the Levites. 19 And ait shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his heart may not 5be lifted above his brethren, that he bmay not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may 6prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.