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.