Deuteronomy 17

1 You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep with any defect or serious flaw, for that is detestable to the LORD your God.

2 If a man or woman among you in one of the towns that the LORD your God gives you is found doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God by transgressing His covenant

3 and going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven—which I have forbidden—

4 and if it is reported and you hear about it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the report is true and such an abomination has happened in Israel,

5 you must bring out to your gates the man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you must stone that person to death.

6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but he shall not be executed on the testimony of a lone witness.

7 The hands of the witnesses shall be the first in putting him to death, and after that, the hands of all the people. So you must purge the evil from among you.

8 If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.

9 You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Inquire of them, and they will give you a verdict in the case.

10 You must abide by the verdict they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you,

11 according to the terms of law they give and the verdict they proclaim. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left from the decision they declare to you.

12 But the man who acts presumptuously, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, or to the judge, must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.

13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will no longer behave arrogantly.

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,”

15 you are to appoint over yourselves the king whom the LORD your God shall choose. Appoint a king from among your brothers; you are not to set over yourselves a foreigner who is not one of your brothers.

16 But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’

17 He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.

18 When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

19 It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by carefully observing all the words of this instruction and these statutes.

20 Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, and he will not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left, in order that he and his sons may reign many years over his kingdom in Israel.

1 ¶ Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God [any] bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, [or] any evilfavouredness: for that [is] an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard [of it], and enquired diligently, and, behold, [it be] true, [and] the thing certain, [that] such abomination is wrought in Israel:

5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, [even] that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; [but] at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.

8 ¶ If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, [being] matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;

9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:

11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, [to] the right hand, nor [to] the left.

12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

14 ¶ 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;

15 Thou shalt in any wise set [him] king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: [one] from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which [is] not thy brother.

16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of [that which is] before the priests the Levites:

19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, [to] the right hand, or [to] the left: to the end that he may prolong [his] days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

2 If there be found among thee in the gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, any man or woman that doeth evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to transgress his covenant.

3 And go and serve other gods, and worship them, whether they be the sun, or the moon, or any host of heaven, which I have not commanded,

4 And if it be told thee, and thou hear it, thou shalt inquire of it. And if thou find that it is true that such an abomination hath been done in Israel,

5 Then shalt thou bring forth the same man or woman that hath done this evil unto thy gate, and shalt stone them to death.

6 In the mouth of two witnesses, or in the mouth of three witnesses, he that is worthy of death shall die: but in the mouth of one witness he shall not die.

7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first to slay him, and afterward the hand of all the people, that thou put away the wicked from thee.

8 If any matter be grievous unto thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between commerce and commerce, between hurt and hurt, and whatsoever strife there be in thy gates, then thou shalt arise, and go up to the place which the LORD thy God shall choose thee,

9 And come to the priests, and to the Levites, and to the judge that shall be at that time, and ask; and they shall pronounce judgment unto thee.

10 And thou shalt do according to all that they tell thee in the place which the LORD hath mentioned, and shalt observe to do according to all that they shall teach thee.

11 According to the law which they teach thee, and according to the statute which they tell thee, thou shalt keep it, that thou depart not from it to the right hand, nor to the left.

12 And if any man act presumptuously, that he obey not the priest which is there in the office of the LORD thy God, or the judge, he shall die: and thou shalt put away the wicked from Israel.

13 That all the people may hear, and fear, and be no more presumptuous.

14 When thou shalt come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, as all the nations have over me,

15 Then shalt thou make him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose. But thou shalt set one of thy brethren to be king over thee. Thou canst not set over thee any stranger that is not thy brother.

16 But that he keep not many horses, neither bring the people again into Egypt, because of the multitude of horses: for the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall not come again by this way.

17 Neither shall he take many wives, lest his heart be turned away: neither shall he gather much silver and gold.

18 Judges and officers shalt thou set thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God shall give thee among thy tribes, to judge the people with judgment.

18 And when he shall sit upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall take this other law from the priests the Levites, and have it written in a book.

19 Thou shalt not bend the law, neither shalt thou look upon any person, nor take any gift: for gifts blind the wise, and pervert the things of the righteous.

19 This shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law, and the statutes thereof, to do them.

20 That which is right thou shalt pursue, that thou mayest live, and possess the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

20 He shall not lift up his heart above his brethren, neither shall he depart from the commandment on the right hand, nor on the left, that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel.

21 Thou shalt not plant a grove of trees by the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

22 Thou shalt not set thee up a pillar, which the LORD thy God hateth. Ch. 17, v. 1. Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God an ox or a sheep that hath blemish or any evil thing in it: for it is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.