Choosing a King

¹⁴ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, taking it as your ·own [possession] and living in it, you will say, “·Let’s appoint [^LI will set] a king over ·us [^Lme] like the nations all around us [1 Sam. 8:5, 20].” ¹⁵ Be sure to ·appoint [set] over you the king the Lord your God chooses. He must be one of your own ·people [relatives; ^Lbrothers]. Do not ·appoint [set] as your king a foreigner who is not a ·fellow Israelite [relative; ^Lbrother]. ¹⁶ The king must not ·have too many [multiply] horses for himself [Is. 2:7–9], and he must not send people to Egypt to get more horses, because the Lord has told you, “Don’t return that way again.” ¹⁷ The king must not ·have many [multiply for himself] wives, or his heart will ·be led away [turn aside] from God [1 Kin. 11:1–13]. He must not have too much silver and gold.

¹⁸ When he ·becomes king [^Lsits on the throne of his kingdom], he should write a copy of ·the teachings [these laws/instructions] on a scroll for himself, a copy taken from the priests and Levites. ¹⁹ He should keep it with him all the time and read from it every day of his life. Then he will learn to ·respect [fear] the Lord his God, and he will obey all ·the teachings [these laws/instructions] and ·commands [statutes; ordinances; requirements]. ²⁰ He should not ·think he is better than his fellow Israelites [^Lexalt his heart above his relatives/brothers], and he must not ·stop obeying [turn aside from] the law ·in any way [^Lto the right or the left] so that he and his ·descendants [sons] may rule the kingdom for a long time [2 Sam. 7:16].