Deuteronomy 17

1 You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep in which is a defect or anything evil; for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.

Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock, or lamb, whereon there is a blemish, any thing evil; for it is an abomination unto the Lord thy God.

2 If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, a man or woman who does that which is evil in the LORD your God’s sight in transgressing his covenant,

If there be found in the midst of thee, within any one of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. a man or a woman, that doth the wickedness in the eyes of the Lord thy God, to transgress his covenant,

3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the stars of the sky, which I have not commanded,

And he hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have prohibited;

4 and you are told, and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel,

And it be told thee, and thou hearest of it: then shalt thou inquire diligently; and, behold, if it be true, the thing is certain, such abomination hath been wrought in Israel:

5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil thing to your gates, even that same man or woman; and you shall stone them to death with stones.

Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, who have committed this wicked thing, unto thy gates, the man or the woman, and thou shalt stone them with stones till they die.

6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

Upon the evidence of two witnesses, or of three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; he shall not be put to death upon the evidence of one witness.

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

The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people at the last; and thou shalt put the evil away from the midst of thee.

8 If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise, and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses.

If a matter be unknown to thee for decision, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between bodily injury and injury, [or] matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which the Lord thy God will choose;

9 You shall come to the priests who are Levites and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict.

And thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that may be in those days, and thou shalt inquire, and they shall inform thee of the sentence of the case;

10 You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which the LORD chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you.

And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they may tell thee from that place which the Lord will choose, and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they may instruct thee;

11 According to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they announce to you, to the right hand, nor to the left.

In accordance with the instruction which they may instruct thee, and according to the decision which they may say unto thee, shalt thou do: thou shalt not depart from the sentence which they may tell thee, to the right, or to the left.

12 The man who does presumptuously in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel.

And the man that will act presumptuously, so as not to 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 All the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

And all the people shall hear, and be afraid, and not act presumptuously any more.

14 When you have come to the land which the LORD your God gives you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,”

When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou hast taken possession of it, and dwellest therein, and thou sayest, I wish to set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me:

15 you shall surely set him whom the LORD your God chooses as king over yourselves. You shall set as king over you one from among your brothers. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.

Then mayest thou indeed set a king over thee, the one whom the Lord thy God will choose; [but] from the midst of thy brethren shalt thou set a king over thee; thou mayest not set over thee a stranger, who is not thy brother.

16 Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because the LORD has said to you, “You shall not go back that way again.”

Only he shall not acquire for himself many horses; so that he may not cause the people to return to Egypt, in order to acquire many horses; whereas the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth not return on that way any more.

17 He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Neither shall he take to himself many wives, that his heart may not turn away; nor shall he acquire for himself too much silver and gold.

18 It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the Levitical priests.

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

19 It shall be with him, and he shall read from 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 these statutes, to do them;

And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: in order 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 not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn away 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 middle of Israel.

So that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and so that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right, or to the left: in order that he may live many days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.