Deuteronomy 17:14

When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, establishing future governance rules after they cross the Jordan and occupy the territory.

The words — כִּֽי (ki) operates as a temporal or conditional marker meaning "when" or "if," and נֹתֵן (noTen) specifies God’s active future provision of the land.

The thread — The people’s demand for a monarchy reappears in 1 Samuel 8:5 when elders request a king to judge them, and in 1 Samuel 8:19 when they reject Samuel’s counsel. Joshua 1:13 echoes Moses’ prior mandate concerning the land inheritance.

Why it lands — The verse explicitly ties royal authority to divine appointment and covenant boundary, requiring the reader to subordinate political structures to obedience rather than cultural imitation.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

כִּֽי־ki-if תָבֹ֣אta.Vo'you will go אֶל־'el-into הָאָ֗רֶץha./'A.retzthe/ land אֲשֶׁ֨ר'a.Sherwhich יְהוָ֤הYah.wehYahweh אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙'e.lo.Hei./khaGod/ your נֹתֵ֣ןno.Ten[is] about to giveלָ֔ךְLa/khto <the>/ youוִֽירִשְׁתָּ֖הּvi./rish.Ta/hand/ you will take possession of/ it וְיָשַׁ֣בְתָּהve./ya.Shav.tahand/ you will dwellבָּ֑הּBa/hin <the>/ itוְאָמַרְתָּ֗ve./'a.mar.Taand/ you will say אָשִׂ֤ימָה'a.Si.mahlet me appoint עָלַי֙'a.La/iover/ myself מֶ֔לֶךְMe.lekha king כְּכָל־ke./khol-like/ all הַגּוֹיִ֖םha./go.Yimthe/ nations אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.Sherwhich סְבִיבֹתָֽי׃se.vi.vo.Ta/i[are] around/ me

King James Version

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;

Cross-references

1 Samuel 8:19 Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.
Joshua 1:13 “Remember what Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you when he said, ‘The LORD your God will give you rest, and He will give you this land.’
1 Samuel 8:5 “Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”
1 Samuel 12:19 They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.”
Deuteronomy 7:1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—
Deuteronomy 11:31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. When you take possession of it and settle in it,
Deuteronomy 12:9 For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 18:9 When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.
Deuteronomy 26:1 When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and settle in it,
Deuteronomy 26:9 And He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.