1Suppose an ox or sheep has anything at all wrong with it. Then don’t sacrifice it to the LORD your God. He hates it.2Someone living among you might do what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God. It might happen in one of the towns the LORD is giving you. That person is breaking the LORD’s covenant.3The person might have worshipped or bowed down to other gods. That person might have bowed down to the sun or moon or stars in the sky. I have commanded you not to do these things.4When you hear that people have done something like that, check the matter out carefully. If it’s true, an evil thing has been done in Israel. The LORD hates that.5So take the person who has done that evil thing to your city gate. Put that person to death by throwing stones at them.6Two or three witnesses are required to put someone to death. No one can be put to death because of what only one witness says. Two or three witnesses are required.7The witnesses must throw the first stones. Then the rest of the people must also throw stones. Get rid of that evil person.
Law courts
8People will bring their cases to your courts. But some cases will be too hard for you to judge. They might be about murders, attacks or other crimes. Then take those hard cases to the place the LORD your God will choose.9Go to a priest, who is a Levite. And go to the judge who is in office at that time. Ask them for their decision. They will give it to you.10They’ll hand down their decisions at the place the LORD will choose. You must do what they decide. Be careful to do everything they tell you to do.11Act according to whatever they teach you. Accept the decisions they give you. Don’t turn away from what they tell you. Don’t turn to the right or the left.12Someone might show that they don’t respect the judge. Or they will show that they don’t respect the priest. The priest will serve the LORD your God at the place God will choose. If anyone doesn’t show respect for these people, that person must be put to death. Remove that evil person from Israel.13All the Israelites will hear about it. And they will be afraid to disrespect a judge or priest again.
Appoint the king the Lord chooses
14You will enter the land the LORD your God is giving you. You will take it as your own. You will make your homes in it. When you do, you will say, ‘Let’s appoint a king over us, just like all the nations around us.’15When that happens, make sure you appoint over yourselves a king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own people. Don’t appoint over yourselves someone from another country. Don’t choose anyone who isn’t from one of the tribes of Israel.16The king must not get large numbers of horses for himself. He must not make the people return to Egypt to get more horses. The LORD has told you, ‘You must not go back there again.’17The king must not have many wives. If he does, they will lead him astray. He must not store up large amounts of silver and gold.18When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he must make for himself a copy of the law. He must write on a scroll the law that I am teaching you. He must copy it from the scroll of a priest, who is a Levite.19The king must keep the scroll close to him at all times. He must read it all the days of his life. Then he can learn to have respect for the LORD his God. He can carefully obey all the words of this law and these rules.20He won’t think of himself as being better than his people are. He won’t turn away from the law. He won’t turn to the right or the left. Then he and his sons after him will rule over his kingdom in Israel for a long time.
Deuteronomy 17
English Standard Version
1“You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God. (Le 22:20)2“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, (De 13:6; Jos 7:11; Jos 7:15; Jos 23:16; Jud 2:20; 2Ki 18:12; Ho 6:7; Ho 8:1)3and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, (De 4:19; Jer 7:31; Jer 19:5; Jer 32:35)4and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, (De 13:14; De 19:18)5then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. (Le 24:14; Le 24:16; Jos 7:25)6On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. (Nu 35:30; Joh 8:17)7The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge[1] the evil[2] from your midst. (De 13:5; De 13:9; De 17:12; Ac 7:58)
Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges
8“If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose. (De 12:5)9And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision. (De 19:17; De 21:5; 2Ch 19:8; 2Ch 19:10; Ps 122:5; Jer 18:18; Eze 44:24; Hag 2:11; Mal 2:7)10Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the Lord will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you.11According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left.12The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. (De 10:8; De 17:7; De 18:5; De 18:7; De 18:20; De 18:22; Ezr 10:8)13And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again. (De 13:11)
Laws Concerning Israel’s Kings
14“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ (1Sa 8:5; 1Sa 8:19)15you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. (1Sa 9:15; 1Sa 10:24; 1Sa 16:12; 1Ch 22:10; Jer 30:21)16Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ (Ex 13:17; Ex 14:13; Nu 14:3; De 28:68; 1Ki 4:26; 1Ki 10:26; 1Ki 10:28; 2Ch 1:16; 2Ch 9:28; Isa 2:7; Isa 31:1; Jer 42:15; Eze 17:15; Ho 11:5)17And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. (1Ki 11:3; Ne 13:26; Isa 2:7)18“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by[3] the Levitical priests. (De 31:9; De 31:26; 2Ki 11:12; 2Ki 22:8; 2Ch 34:14)19And it 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 by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, (De 4:10; De 14:23; Jos 1:8)20that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. (De 4:40; De 5:32; 1Ki 15:5)