Deuteronomy 17
The Israelites are instructed not to offer defective animals as sacrifices to God, and to stone to death anyone who worships foreign gods. Disputes and difficult judgments are to be taken to the priests and judges at the place chosen by God, and their decisions are to be obeyed. A king, when appointed, must be chosen by God from among the Israelites, and he is not to multiply horses, have many wives, or accumulate wealth. The king is also to write and keep a copy of the law, reading it daily to learn to fear God and keep his commands.
1"You shall not immolate to the Lord your God a sheep or an ox, in which there is a blemish or any defect at all; for this is an abomination to the Lord your God2When there will have been found among you, within one of your gates which the Lord your God will give to you, a man or a woman who is doing evil in the sight of the Lord your God, and who is transgressing his covenant3so as to go and serve foreign gods and adore them, such as the sun and the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not instructed4and when this will have been reported to you, and, upon hearing it, if you have inquired diligently and have found it to be true, that the abomination is being done in Israel5you shall lead forward the man or the woman who has perpetrated this most wicked thing to the gates of your city, and they shall be stoned to death6By the mouth of two or three witnesses, he who is to be put to death shall perish. Let no one be killed with only one person speaking testimony against him7First, the hands of the witnesses shall be upon him who will be put to death, and lastly, the hands of the remainder of the people shall be sent forth. So may you take away the evil from your midst8If you have perceived that there is among you a difficult and doubtful matter of judgment, between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and leprosy, and if you will have seen that the words of the judges within your gates vary: rise up and ascend to the place which the Lord your God will choose9And you shall approach the priests of the Levitical stock, and the judge, who shall be among them at that time, and you shall inquire of them, and they will reveal to you the truth of the judgment10And you shall accept whatever they will say, those who preside in the place which the Lord will choose, and whatever they will teach you11in accord with his law, and you shall follow their sentence. Neither shall you turn aside to the right or to the left12But whoever will be arrogant, unwilling to obey the order of the priest who ministers at that time to the Lord your God, and the decree of the judge, that man shall die. And so shall you take away the evil from Israel13And when the people hear about this, they shall be afraid, so that no one, from that time on, will swell with pride14When you will have entered into the land which the Lord your God will give to you, and you possess it, and you live in it, and you say, ‘I will appoint a king over me, just as all the surrounding nations have done,15you shall appoint him whom the Lord your God will choose from among the number of your brothers. You cannot make a man of another people king, one who is not your brother16And when he will have been appointed king, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor lead the people back into Egypt, having been exalted by the number of his horsemen, especially since the Lord has instructed you never to return along the same way17He shall not have many wives, who might allure his mind, and he shall not have immense weights of silver and gold18Then, after he has been seated upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a volume, using a copy from the priests of the Levitical tribe19And he shall have it with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and to keep his words and ceremonies, which are instructed in the law20And so may his heart not become exalted with arrogance over his brothers, nor turn aside to the right or to the left, so that he and his sons may reign for a long time over Israel.
Share this chapter