Deuteronomy 17:17

Complete Jewish Bible

Likewise, he is not to acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart will not turn away; and he is not to acquire excessive quantities of silver and gold.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray. He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself.

Hebrew Names Version
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

King James Version
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Lexham English Bible
And he must not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart would turn aside; and he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively.

English Standard Version
And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

New Century Version
The king must not have many wives, or his heart will be led away from God. He must not have too much silver and gold.

New English Translation
Furthermore, he must not marry many wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold.

Amplified Bible
"He shall not acquire multiple wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away [from God]; nor [for the same reason] shall he acquire great amounts of silver and gold.

New American Standard Bible
"And 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.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Neither shall hee take him many wiues, lest his heart turne away, neither shal he gather him much siluer and golde.

Legacy Standard Bible
And he shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

Contemporary English Version
And the king must not have a lot of wives—they might tempt him to be unfaithful to the Lord . Finally, the king must not try to get huge amounts of silver and gold.

Darby Translation
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Easy-to-Read Version
Also, the king must not have too many wives, because that will make him turn away from the Lord. And he must not make himself rich with silver and gold.

George Lamsa Translation
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that they may not cause his heart to turn away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Good News Translation
The king is not to have many wives, because this would make him turn away from the Lord ; and he is not to make himself rich with silver and gold.

Literal Translation
And he shall not multiply wives to himself, and his heart shall not turn aside. And he shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He shall not haue many wyues also, that his hert be not turned awaye. Nether shal he gather him syluer and golde to moch.

American Standard Version
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Bible in Basic English
And 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.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Also he ought not to multiplie wyues to him selfe, lest his heart turne away, neither shall he gather hym siluer and golde to much.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

King James Version (1611)
Neither shall he multiply wiues to himselfe, that his heart turne not away: neither shall hee greatly multiply to himselfe siluer and gold.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he shall not multiply to himself wives, lest his heart turn away; and he shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

English Revised Version
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Berean Standard Bible
He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself great amounts of silver and gold.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The kyng schal not haue ful many wyues, that drawen his soule `to ouer myche fleischlynesse, nether `he schal haue grete burthuns of siluer and of gold.

Young's Literal Translation
And he doth not multiply to himself wives, and his heart doth not turn aside, and silver and gold he doth not multiply to himself -- exceedingly.

Update Bible Version
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart shall not turn away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Webster's Bible Translation
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart may turn not away: neither shall he greatly accumulate to himself silver and gold.

World English Bible
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

New King James Version
Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.

New Living Translation
The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the Lord . And he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself.

New Life Bible
He must not take many wives for himself or his heart may turn away. And he must not gather much silver and gold for himself.

New Revised Standard
And he must not acquire many wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Neither shall he multiply to himself wives, that his heart turn not aside, - nor silver and gold, shall he multiply to himself greatly.

Douay-Rheims Bible
He shall not have many wives, that may allure his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold.

Revised Standard Version
And he shall not multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply for himself silver and gold.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

Contextual Overview

¹⁴ (ii) "When you have entered the land Adonai your God is giving you, have taken possession of it and are living there, you may say, ‘I want to have a king over me, like all the other nations around me.' ¹⁵ In that event, you must appoint as king the one whom Adonai your God will choose. He must be one of your kinsmen, this king you appoint over you — you are forbidden to appoint a foreigner over you who is not your kinsman. ¹⁶ However, he is not to acquire many horses for himself or have the people return to Egypt to obtain more horses, inasmuch as Adonai told you never to go back that way again. ¹⁷ Likewise, he is not to acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart will not turn away; and he is not to acquire excessive quantities of silver and gold. ¹⁸ "When he has come to occupy the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy of this Torah for himself in a scroll, from the one the cohanim and L'vi'im use. ¹⁹ It is to remain with him, and he is to read in it every day, as long as he lives; so that he will learn to fear Adonai his God and keep all the words of this Torah and these laws and obey them; ²⁰ so that he will not think he is better than his kinsmen; and so that he will not turn aside either to the right or to the left from the mitzvah. In this way he will prolong his own reign and that of his children in Isra'el.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

multiply wives: Genesis 2:24, 2 Samuel 3:2-5, 1 Kings 11:1-4, Nehemiah 13:26, Malachi 2:15, Matthew 19:5

neither shall he: 1 Kings 10:21, Psalms 62:10, Proverbs 30:8, Proverbs 30:9, Matthew 6:19, Matthew 6:20, Matthew 13:22, Matthew 19:23, Matthew 19:24, Luke 12:15, 1 Timothy 6:9, 1 Timothy 6:17

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 30:17 - heart Judges 8:30 - many wives 2 Samuel 5:13 - General 1 Kings 11:4 - his wives 1 Chronicles 14:3 - took 2 Chronicles 11:21 - eighteen wives Proverbs 31:3 - to that Isaiah 2:7 - land

Cross-References

Genesis 17:3
Avram fell on his face, and God continued speaking with him:

Genesis 17:19
God answered, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him Yitz'chak [laughter]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

Genesis 17:20
But as for Yishma‘el, I have heard you. I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and give him many descendants. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

Genesis 18:12
So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, "I am old, and so is my lord; am I to have pleasure again?"

Genesis 21:6
Sarah said, "God has given me good reason to laugh; now everyone who hears about it will laugh with me."

Leviticus 9:24
(iii) Fire came forth from the presence of Adonai , consuming the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

Numbers 14:5
Moshe and Aharon fell on their faces before the entire assembled community of the people of Isra'el.

Numbers 16:22
They fell on their faces and said, "Oh God, God of the spirits of all humankind, if one person sins, are you going to be angry with the entire assembly?"

Numbers 16:45
Now Korach the son of Yitz'har, the son of K'hat, the son of Levi, along with Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli'av, and On, the son of Pelet, descendants of Re'uven, took men and rebelled against Moshe. Siding with them were 250 men of Isra'el, leaders of the community, key members of the council, men of reputation. They assembled themselves against Moshe and Aharon and said to them, "You take too much on yourselves! After all, the entire community is holy, every one of them, and Adonai is among them. So why do you lift yourselves up above Adonai 's assembly?" When Moshe heard this he fell on his face. Then he said to Korach and his whole group, "In the morning, Adonai will show who are his and who is the holy person he will allow to approach him. Yes, he will bring whomever he chooses near to himself. Do this: take censers, Korach and all your group; put fire in them; and put incense in them before Adonai tomorrow. The one whom Adonai chooses will be the one who is holy! It is you, you sons of Levi, who are taking too much on yourselves!" Then Moshe said to Korach, "Listen here, you sons of Levi! Is it for you a mere trifle that the God of Isra'el has separated you from the community of Isra'el to bring you close to himself, so that you can do the work in the tabernacle of Adonai and stand before the community serving them? He has brought you close and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you. Now you want the office of cohen too! That's why you and your group have gathered together against Adonai ! After all, what is Aharon that you complain against him?" Then Moshe sent to summon Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli'av. But they replied, "We won't come up! Is it such a mere trifle, bringing us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert, that now you arrogate to yourself the role of dictator over us? (ii) You haven't at all brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, and you haven't put us in possession of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can gouge out these men's eyes and blind them? We won't come up!" Moshe was very angry and said to Adonai , "Don't accept their grain offering! I haven't taken one donkey from them, I've done nothing wrong to any of them." Moshe said to Korach, "You and your group, be there before Adonai tomorrow — you, they and Aharon. Each of you take his fire pan and put incense in it; every one of you, bring before Adonai his fire pan, 250 fire pans, you too, and Aharon — each one his fire pan." Each man took his fire pan, put fire in it, laid incense on it and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting with Moshe and Aharon. Korach assembled all the group who were against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Then the glory of Adonai appeared to the whole assembly. (iii) Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, "Separate yourselves from this assembly; I'm going to destroy them right now!" They fell on their faces and said, "Oh God, God of the spirits of all humankind, if one person sins, are you going to be angry with the entire assembly?" Adonai answered Moshe, "Tell the assembly to move away from the homes of Korach, Datan and Aviram." Moshe got up and went to Datan and Aviram, and the leaders of Isra'el followed him. There he said to the assembly, "Leave the tents of these wicked men! Don't touch anything that belongs to them, or you may be swept away in all their sins." So they moved away from all around the area where Korach, Datan and Aviram lived. Then Datan and Aviram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents with their wives, sons and little ones. Moshe said, "Here is how you will know that Adonai has sent me to do all these things and that I haven't done them out of my own ambition: if these men die a natural death like other people, only sharing the fate common to all humanity, then Adonai has not sent me. But if Adonai does something new — if the ground opens up and swallows them with everything they own, and they go down alive to Sh'ol — then you will understand that these men have had contempt for Adonai ." The moment he finished speaking, the ground under them split apart — the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all the people who had sided with Korach and everything they owned. So they and everything they owned went down alive into Sh'ol, the earth closed over them and their existence in the community ceased. All Isra'el around them fled at their shrieks, shouting, "The earth might swallow us too!" Then fire came out from Adonai and destroyed the 250 men who had offered the incense.

Deuteronomy 9:18
Then I fell down before Adonai , as I had the first time, for forty days and nights, during which time I neither ate food nor drank water, all because of the sin you committed by doing what was evil in the sight of Adonai and thus provoking him.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away,.... From attending to the duty of his office, the care and government of his people, and from serious religion; and particularly from the worship of the true God, as the heart of Solomon was turned away from it by his numerous idolatrous wives, 1 Kings 11:3, it is a common notion of the Jews that a king might have eighteen wives, and no more k: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold; he might increase his wealth, but not greatly, lest his heart should be lifted up with pride by it, and lest his subjects should be oppressed and burdened with taxes for that purpose; or he, being possessed of so much, should make use of it to enslave them, and especially should be so elated with it as to deny God, and despise his providence, and disobey his laws; see Proverbs 30:9. The Jews generally say l, that he ought not to multiply more than what will pay the stipends or wages of his servants, and only for the treasury of the house of the Lord, and for the necessity of the congregation (or commonwealth), and for their wars; but not for himself, and his own treasury.

k Maimon. Issure Biah, c. 1. sect. 2. Misn. ut supra. (Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 4.). T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 21. 1. Targum Jon. & Jarchi in loc. l Maimon. ib. sect. 4. Misn. ut supra. (k)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Multiplication of wives would lead to sensuality, and so to an apostasy no less fatal in effect than downright idolatry (compare Exodus 34:16). This rule, like the others, abridges to the ruler of Israel liberties usually enjoyed without stint by the kings of the East. The restriction was in the days of Moses unprecedented; and demanded a higher standard in the king of Israel than was looked for among his equals in other nations.

Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold - In this third prohibition, as in the other two, excess is forbidden. Vast accumulation of treasure could hardly be effected without oppression; nor when effected fail to produce pride and a “trust in uncertain riches” 1 Timothy 6:17.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 17:17. Neither shall he multiply wives — For this would necessarily lead to foreign alliances, and be the means of introducing the manners and customs of other nations, and their idolatry also. Solomon sinned against this precept, and brought ruin on himself and on the land by it; see 1 Kings 11:4.