Deuteronomy 17:15-17

Contemporary English Version

¹⁵Go ahead and appoint a king, but make sure that he is an Israelite and that he is the one the Lord has chosen.

¹⁶^(A) The king should not have many horses, especially those from Egypt. The Lord has said never to go back there again. ¹⁷^(B) And the king must not have a lot of wives—they might tempt him to be unfaithful to the Lord.^[a] Finally, the king must not try to get huge amounts of silver and gold.

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Footnotes

17.17 a lot of wives … unfaithful to the Lord: A king would often marry the daughter of another king that he was making a treaty with. These foreign women would naturally want to worship their own gods, and would want their husband the king to do so as well.