¹⁴When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession^f of it and settled in it,^g and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”^h ¹⁵be sure to appointⁱ over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites.^j Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. ¹⁶The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses^k for himself^l or make the people return to Egypt^m to get more of them,ⁿ for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”^o ¹⁷He must not take many wives,^p or his heart will be led astray.^q He must not accumulate^r large amounts of silver and gold.^s

¹⁸When he takes the throne^t of his kingdom, he is to write^u for himself on a scroll a copy^v of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life^w so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees^x ²⁰and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law^y to the right or to the left.^z Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.^a

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Cross references

fSee Nu 33:53
g Jos 21:43
h 1 Sa 8:5, 19–20; 10:19
i 1 Sa 16:3; 2 Sa 5:3
j Jer 30:21
k Isa 2:7; 30:16
l 1 Sa 8:11; 1 Ki 4:26; 9:19; 10:26; 2 Ch 1:14; Ps 20:7
m 1 Ki 10:29; Isa 31:1; Jer 42:14
n 1 Ki 10:28; Isa 31:1; Eze 17:15
oSee Ex 13:17
pSee Ex 34:16; 2 Sa 5:13; 12:11; 1 Ki 11:3; 2 Ch 11:21
q 1 Ki 11:2; Pr 31:3
r 1 Ki 10:27
s 2 Ch 1:11; Isa 2:7
t 1 Ki 1:46; 1 Ch 29:23
u Dt 31:22, 24; Jos 24:26; 1 Sa 10:25
v 2 Ch 23:11
w Dt 4:9–10; Jos 1:8
x Dt 11:13; 1 Ki 3:3; 11:38; 2 Ki 22:2
y Jos 23:6; Job 23:12; Ps 119:102
zSee Dt 5:32; See 1 Ki 9:4
a 1 Sa 8:5; 10:25; 1 Ki 2:3; 1 Ch 28:8