Deuteronomy 17:16-18

Contemporary English Version

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.

¹⁸The official copy of God's laws^[b] will be kept by the priests of the Levi tribe. So, as soon as anyone becomes king, he must go to the priests and write out a copy of these laws while they watch.

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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.
17.18 God's laws: Or “God's laws for the king.”