10-13 Then carry out their verdict at the place designated by God, your God. Do what they tell you, in exactly the way they tell you. Follow their instructions precisely: Don’t leave out anything; don’t add anything. Anyone who presumes to override or twist the decision handed down by the priest or judge who was acting in the Presence of God, your God, is as good as dead—root him out, rid Israel of the evil. Everyone will take notice and be impressed. That will put an end to presumptuous behavior.

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14-17 When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you and take it over and settle down, and then say, “I’m going to get me a king, a king like all the nations around me,” make sure you get yourself a king whom God, your God, chooses. Choose your king from among your kinsmen; don’t take a foreigner—only a kinsman. And make sure he doesn’t build up a war machine, amassing military horses and chariots. He must not send people to Egypt to get more horses, because God told you, “You’ll never go back there again!” And make sure he doesn’t build up a harem, collecting wives who will divert him from the straight and narrow. And make sure he doesn’t pile up a lot of silver and gold.

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13 All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.(A)

The King

14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession(B) of it and settled in it,(C) and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”(D) 15 be sure to appoint(E) over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites.(F) Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.

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