Deuteronomy 17
17
1Don’t sacrifice to the LORD your God any oxen or sheep that have defects of any kind, because that is detestable to the LORD your God.
Capital punishment
2If someone, whether male or female, is found in your community—in one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you—who does evil in the LORD your God’s eyes, by breaking God’s covenant, 3by following and serving other gods, and by bowing down to them, to the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly bodies that I haven’t permitted— 4and you hear news about it, then you must look into this situation very carefully. And if it’s definitely true that this detestable thing was done in Israel, 5then you must bring out the man or woman who has done this evil thing to the gates of the city. Stone that person until he or she is dead.
6Capital punishment must be decided by two or three witnesses. No one may be executed on the basis of only one testimony. 7In the execution, the hands of the witnesses must be against the guilty person from the start; the hand of all the people will be involved at the end. Remove#17.7 Or burn such evil from your community!
Legal disputes
8If some legal dispute in your cities is too difficult for you to decide—say, between different kinds of bloodshed, different kinds of legal ruling, or different kinds of injury—then take it to the location the LORD your God selects. 9Go to the levitical priests and to the head judge in office at that time and look into things there. They will announce to you the correct ruling. 10You must then act according to the ruling they announced to you from that location, the one the LORD selects. You must follow very carefully everything they instruct you to do. 11Act precisely according to the instruction they give you and the ruling they announce to you. Don’t deviate even a bit from the word they announce. 12And whoever acts rashly by not listening to the priest who is in office serving the LORD your God or to the head judge will die. Remove#17.12 Or burn such evil from Israel! 13All the people will hear about this and be afraid. They won’t act arrogantly anymore.
Law of the king
14Once you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you and you have taken possession of it and settled down in it, you might say: “Let’s appoint a king over us, as all our neighboring nations have done.” 15You can indeed appoint over you a king that the LORD your God selects. You can appoint over you a king who is one of your fellow Israelites. You are not allowed to appoint over you a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites. 16That granted, the king must not acquire too many horses, and he must not return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, because the LORD told you: “You will never go back by that road again.” 17The king must not take numerous wives so that his heart doesn’t go astray. Nor can the king acquire too much silver and gold. 18Instead, when he sits on his royal throne, he himself must write a copy of this Instruction on a scroll in the presence of the levitical priests. 19That Instruction must remain with him, and he must read in it every day of his life so that he learns to revere the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this Instruction and these regulations, by doing them, 20by not being overbearing toward his fellow Israelites, and by not deviating even a bit from the commandment. If the king does all that, he will ensure lasting rule in Israel for himself and for his successors.
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Deuteronomy 17: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Deuteronomy 17
17
1Thou shalt not sacrifice to the Lord thy God a sheep, or an ox, wherein there is blemish, or any fault: for that is an abomination to the Lord thy God.
2When there shall be found among you within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, man or woman that do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, and transgress his covenant:
3So as to go and serve strange gods, and adore them, the sun and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded:
4And this is told thee, and hearing it thou hast inquired diligently, and found it to be true, and that the abomination is committed in Israel:
5Thou shalt bring forth the man or the woman, who have committed that most wicked thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be stoned.
6By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he die that is to be slain. Let no man be put to death, when only one beareth witness against him.
7The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him: and afterwards the hands of the rest of the people: That thou mayst take away the evil out of the midst of thee.
8If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and leprosy: and thou see that the words of the judges within thy gates do vary: arise, and go up to the place, which the Lord thy God shall choose.
9And thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to the judge, that shall be at that time. And thou shalt ask of them. And they shall shew thee the truth of the judgment.
10And thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the place, which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee,
11According to his law. And thou shalt follow their sentence: neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand.
12But he that will be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment of the priest, who ministereth at that time to the Lord thy God, and the decree of the judge: that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the evil from Israel.
13And all the people hearing it shall fear, that no one afterwards swell with pride.
14When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee, and possessest it, and shalt say: I will set a king over me, as all nations have that are round about.
15Thou shalt set him whom the Lord thy God shall choose out of the number of thy brethren. Thou mayst not make a man of another nation king, that is not thy brother.
16And when he is made king, he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead back the people into Egypt, being lifted up with the number of his horsemen: especially since the Lord hath commanded you to return no more the same way.
17He shall not have many wives, that may allure his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold.
18But after he is raised to the throne of his kingdom, he shall copy out to himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a volume, taking the copy of the priests of the Levitical tribe.
19And he shall have it with him, and shall read it all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and keep his words and ceremonies, that are commanded in the law:
20And that his heart be not lifted up with pride over his brethren, nor decline to the right or to the left: that he and his sons may reign a long time over Israel.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.