¹¹ And he said, ^(A)“This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your ^(B)sons and appoint them for his own ^(C)chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots.

⁵² Now there was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, ^(A)he took him for himself.

²⁵ Then Samuel explained to the people ^(A)the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.

Absalom’s Treason

15 After this ^(A)it happened that Absalom ^(B)provided himself with chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.

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, ^(A)‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵ you shall surely set a king over you ^(B)whom the Lord your God chooses; one ^(C)from 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 ^(D)horses for himself, nor cause the people ^(E)to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for ^(F)the Lord has said to you, ^(G)‘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 ^(H)gold 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 ^(I)before the priests, the Levites. ¹⁹ And ^(J)it 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 ^[a]be lifted above his brethren, that he ^(K)may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may ^[b]prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

¹⁰ Also he built towers in the desert. He dug many wells, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains; he also had farmers and vinedressers in the mountains and in ^[a]Carmel, for he loved the soil.

¹¹ Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by companies, according to the number on their roll as prepared by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains. ¹² The total number of ^[b]chief officers of the mighty men of valor was two thousand six hundred. ¹³ And under their authority was an army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. ¹⁴ Then Uzziah prepared for them, for the entire army, shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and slings to cast stones. ¹⁵ And he made devices in Jerusalem, invented by ^(A)skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong.

⁴⁶ Then the ^(A)hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he ^(B)girded^[a] up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

¹⁰ Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist!

⁴ “Your father made our ^(A)yoke ^[a]heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”