Deuteronomy 17
17
Use Only Good Animals for Sacrifices
1“You must not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or sheep that has anything wrong with it. The Lord your God would hate that.
Punishment for Worshiping Idols
2“You might hear about an evil thing that happens in one of the cities that the Lord your God is giving you. You might hear that a man or woman in your group has sinned against the Lord your God. You might hear that they have broken his agreement or 3that they have worshiped other gods or maybe the sun, the moon or the stars. I never told you to do that! 4If you hear bad news like this, you must check it carefully. You must learn if it is true that this terrible thing has really happened in Israel. If you prove that it is true, 5you must punish the person who did this evil thing. You must take that man or woman out to a public place near the city gates and kill them with stones. 6But no one should be punished with death if only one witness says that person did that evil thing. But if two or three witnesses say it is true, the person must be killed. 7The witnesses must throw the first stones to kill that person. Then the other people should throw stones to finish killing that person. In this way you will remove this evil from your group.
Difficult Court Decisions
8“There might be some problems that are too hard for your courts to judge. It might be a murder case or an argument between two people. Or it might be a fight in which someone was hurt. When these cases are argued in your towns, your judges there might not be able to decide what is right. Then you must go to the special place that the Lord your God will choose. 9You must go to the priests who are Levites and to the judge on duty at that time. They will decide what to do about that problem. 10There at the Lord’s special place they will tell you their decision. You must do whatever they say. Be sure to do everything they tell you to do. 11You must accept their decision and follow their instructions exactly—don’t change anything!
12“You must punish anyone who refuses to obey the judge or the priest who is there at that time serving the Lord your God. That person must die. You must remove this evil person from Israel. 13All the people will hear about this punishment and be afraid. Then they will not be stubborn anymore.
How to Choose a King
14“You will enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You will take that land and live in it. Then you will say, ‘We will put a king over us, like all the nations around us.’ 15When that happens, you must be sure to choose the king that the Lord your God chooses. The king over you must be one of your own people. You must not make a foreigner your king. 16The king must not get more and more horses for himself. And he must not send people to Egypt to get more horses, because the Lord has told you, ‘You must never go back that way.’ 17Also, 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.
18“When the king begins to rule, he must write a copy of the law for himself in a book. He must make that copy from the books that the priests from the tribe of Levi keep. 19He must keep that book with him and read from it all his life, because he must learn to respect the Lord his God. He must learn to completely obey everything the law commands. 20Then the king will not think that he is better than any of his own people. He will not turn away from the law, but he will follow it exactly. Then he and his descendants will rule the kingdom of Israel a long time.
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Deuteronomy 17: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Deuteronomy 17
17
1“You #Deut. 15:21; Mal. 1:8, 13shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.
2#Deut. 13:6“If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, #Josh. 7:11in transgressing His covenant, 3who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either #Deut. 4:19the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, #Jer. 7:22which I have not commanded, 4#Deut. 13:12, 14and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, 5then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and #Lev. 24:14–16; Josh. 7:25shall stone #Deut. 13:6–18to death that man or woman with stones. 6Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three #Num. 35:30; Deut. 19:15; Matt. 18:16; John 8:17; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19; Heb. 10:28witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 7The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among #Deut. 13:5; 19:19; 1 Cor. 5:13you.
8#Deut. 1:17; 2 Chr. 19:10“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the #Deut. 12:5; 16:2place which the Lord your God chooses. 9And #Jer. 18:18you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and #Deut. 19:17–19to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; #Ezek. 44:24they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. 10You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. 11According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. 12Now #Num. 15:30; Deut. 1:43the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13#Deut. 13:11And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.
Principles Governing Kings
14“When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, #1 Sam. 8:5, 19, 20; 10:19‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ 15you shall surely set a king over you #1 Sam. 9:15, 16; 10:24; 16:12, 13; 1 Chr. 22:8–10; Hos. 8:4whom the Lord your God chooses; one #Jer. 30:21from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16But he shall not multiply #1 Kin. 4:26; 10:26–29; Ps. 20:7horses for himself, nor cause the people #Is. 31:1; Ezek. 17:15to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for #Ex. 13:17, 18; Hos. 11:5the Lord has said to you, #Deut. 28:68‘You shall not return that way again.’ 17Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and #1 Kin. 10:14gold for himself.
18“Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one #Deut. 31:24–26before the priests, the Levites. 19And #Ps. 119:97, 98it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he #Deut. 5:32; 1 Kin. 15:5may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.