Deuteronomy 17:16

And he is not to get together a great army of horses for himself, or make the people go back to Egypt to get horses for him: because the Lord has said, You will never again go back that way.

Bible in Basic English

In The King James Version

But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

In Context

15Then see that you take as your king the man named by the Lord your God: let your king be one of your countrymen, not a man of another nation who is not one of yourselves.

17And he is not to have a great number of wives, for fear that his heart may be turned away; or great wealth of silver and gold.

Read all of Deuteronomy 17

Cross References

Exodus 13:17Now after Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not take them through the land of the Philistines, though that was near: for God said, If the people see war, they may have a change of heart and go back to Egypt.

Numbers 14:3Why is the Lord taking us into this land to come to our death by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will get into strange hands: would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?

1 Samuel 8:11And he said, This is the sort of king who will be your ruler: he will take your sons and make them his servants, his horsemen, and drivers of his war-carriages, and they will go running before his war-carriages;

1 Kings 1:5Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith, lifting himself up in pride, said, I will become king; and he made ready his carriages of war and his horsemen, with fifty runners to go before him.

1 Kings 5:6So now, will you have cedar-trees from Lebanon cut down for me, and my servants will be with your servants; and I will give you payment for your servants at whatever rate you say; for it is common knowledge that we have no such wood-cutters among us as the men of Zidon.

2 Chronicles 9:25Solomon had four thousand buildings for his horses and his war-carriages, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king in Jerusalem.

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 17:15-20

The Choice of a King. ( b. c. 1451.) 14 When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; 15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. 16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the… Read the whole commentary →

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