¹⁴ “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you ^(A)take possession of it and live in it, and you say, ‘^(B)I will appoint a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ ¹⁵ you shall in fact appoint a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One ^(C)from among your countrymen you shall appoint as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves, anyone who is not your countryman. ^16 (D)In any case, he is not to acquire many horses for himself, nor shall he ^(E)make the people return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since ^(F)the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ ¹⁷ And ^(G)he shall not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

¹⁸ “Now it shall come about, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Law on a scroll ^[a](H)in the presence of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ And it shall be with him, and he shall read it ^(I)all the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear the Lord his God, ^[b]by carefully following all the words of this Law and these statutes, ²⁰ so that his heart will not be haughty toward his countrymen, ^(J)and that he will not turn away from the commandment to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may ^[c]live long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

¹¹ And he said, “^(A)This will be the ^[a]practice of the king who will reign over you: ^(B)he will take your sons and put them in his chariots for himself and among his horsemen, and ^(C)they will run before his chariots. ^12 (D)He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to ^[b]do his plowing and to gather in his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will also take your daughters and use them as perfumers, cooks, and bakers. ^14 (E)He will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵ And he will take a tenth of your seed and your vineyards and give it to his high officials and his servants. ¹⁶ He will also take your male servants and your female servants, and your best young men, and your donkeys, and ^[c]use them for his work. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. ¹⁸ Then ^(F)you will cry out on that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but ^(G)the Lord will not answer you on that day.”