Deuteronomy 17:17

THE MESSAGE

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.

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.

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

¹⁴When 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. ¹⁸This is what must be done: When he sits down on the throne of his kingdom, the first thing he must do is make himself a copy of this Revelation on a scroll, copied under the supervision of the Levitical priests. That scroll is to remain at his side at all times; he is to study it every day so that he may learn what it means to fear his God , living in reverent obedience before these rules and regulations by following them. He must not become proud and arrogant, changing the commands at whim to suit himself or making up his own versions. If he reads and learns, he will have a long reign as king in Israel, he and his sons.

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
Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face. Then God said to him, "This is my covenant with you: You'll be the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that ‘I'm making you the father of many nations.' I'll make you a father of fathers—I'll make nations from you, kings will issue from you. I'm establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants. And I'm giving you and your descendants this land where you're now just camping, this whole country of Canaan, to own forever. And I'll be their God."

Genesis 17:19
But God said, "That's not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac (Laughter). I'll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.

Genesis 17:20
"And Ishmael? Yes, I heard your prayer for him. I'll also bless him; I'll make sure he has plenty of children—a huge family. He'll father twelve princes; I'll make him a great nation. But I'll establish my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah will give you about this time next year."

Numbers 14:5
Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in front of the entire community, gathered in emergency session.

Numbers 16:22
They threw themselves on their faces and said, "O God, God of everything living, when one man sins are you going to take it out on the whole community?"

Deuteronomy 9:18
Then I prostrated myself before God , just as I had at the beginning of the forty days and nights. I ate no food; I drank no water. I did this because of you, all your sins, sinning against God , doing what is evil in God 's eyes and making him angry. I was terrified of God 's furious anger, his blazing anger. I was sure he would destroy you. But once again God listened to me. And Aaron! How furious he was with Aaron—ready to destroy him. But I prayed also for Aaron at that same time.

Deuteronomy 9:25
When I was on my face, prostrate before God those forty days and nights after God said he would destroy you, I prayed to God for you, "My Master, God , don't destroy your people, your inheritance whom, in your immense generosity, you redeemed, using your enormous strength to get them out of Egypt.

Joshua 5:14
He said, "Neither. I'm commander of God 's army. I've just arrived." Joshua fell, face to the ground, and worshiped. He asked, "What orders does my Master have for his servant?"

Joshua 7:6
Joshua ripped his clothes and fell on his face to the ground before the Chest of God , he and the leaders throwing dirt on their heads, prostrate until evening.

1 Chronicles 21:16
David, Satan, and Araunah Now Satan entered the scene and seduced David into taking a census of Israel. David gave orders to Joab and the army officers under him, "Canvass all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and get a count of the population. I want to know the number." Joab resisted: "May God multiply his people by hundreds! Don't they all belong to my master the king? But why on earth would you do a thing like this—why risk getting Israel into trouble with God?" But David wouldn't take no for an answer, so Joab went off and did it—canvassed the country and then came back to Jerusalem and reported the results of the census: There were 1,100,000 fighting men; of that total, Judah accounted for 470,000. Joab, disgusted by the command—it, in fact, turned his stomach!—protested by leaving Levi and Benjamin out of the census-taking. And God, offended by the whole thing, punished Israel. Then David prayed, "I have sinned badly in what I have just done, substituting statistics for trust; forgive my sin—I've been really stupid." God answered by speaking to Gad, David's pastor: "Go and give David this message: ‘ God 's word: You have your choice of three punishments; choose one and I'll do the rest.'" Gad delivered the message to David: "Do you want three years of famine, three months of running from your enemies while they chase you down, or three days of the sword of God —an epidemic unleashed on the country by an angel of God ? Think it over and make up your mind. What shall I tell the One who sent me?" David told Gad, "They're all terrible! But I'd rather be punished by God whose mercy is great, than fall into human hands." So God unleashed an epidemic in Israel—seventy thousand Israelites died. God then sent the angel to Jerusalem but when he saw the destruction about to begin, he compassionately changed his mind and ordered the death angel, "Enough's enough! Pull back!" The angel of God had just reached the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David looked up and saw the angel hovering between earth and sky, sword drawn and about to strike Jerusalem. David and the elders bowed in prayer and covered themselves with rough burlap.

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.