The Sons of David^(A)(B)

3 These were the sons of David^(C) born to him in Hebron:

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)

David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years,

¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.^(A) Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’^{(B) 19} In accordance with your great love, forgive^(C) the sin of these people,^(D) just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”^(E)

²⁰ The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them,^(F) as you asked. ²¹ Nevertheless, as surely as I live^(G) and as surely as the glory of the Lord^(H) fills the whole earth,^{(I) 22} not one of those who saw my glory and the signs^(J) I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times^(K)— ²³ not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath^(L) to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt^(M) will ever see it.^{(N) 24} But because my servant Caleb^(O) has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly,^(P) I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.^(Q)

⁵ and these were the children born to him there:

⁷ You were running a good race.^(A) Who cut in on you^(B) to keep you from obeying the truth? ⁸ That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.^{(C) 9} “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”^(D)