Deuteronomy 17:14-18:8

New International Version

The King

¹⁴ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession^(A) of it and settled in it,^(B) and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”^{(C) 15} be sure to appoint^(D) over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites.^(E) Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. ¹⁶ The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses^(F) for himself^(G) or make the people return to Egypt^(H) to get more of them,^(I) for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”^{(J) 17} He must not take many wives,^(K) or his heart will be led astray.^(L) He must not accumulate^(M) large amounts of silver and gold.^(N)

¹⁸ When he takes the throne^(O) of his kingdom, he is to write^(P) for himself on a scroll a copy^(Q) of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life^(R) so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees^{(S) 20} and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law^(T) to the right or to the left.^(U) Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.^(V)

Offerings for Priests and Levites

18 The Levitical^(W) priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings^(X) presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance.^{(Y) 2} They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^(Z) as he promised them.^(AA)

³ This is the share due the priests^(AB) from the people who sacrifice a bull^(AC) or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head.^{(AD) 4} You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,^{(AE) 5} for the Lord your God has chosen them^(AF) and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister^(AG) in the Lord’s name always.^(AH)

⁶ If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose,^{(AI) 7} he may minister in the name^(AJ) of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. ⁸ He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.^(AK)