< Deuteronomy 17 >

1 No ox or sheep which has a mark on it or is damaged in any way may be offered to the Lord your God: for that is disgusting to the Lord your God.
Thou shalt not sacrifice unto Yahweh thy God a bullock or a sheep wherein is a blemish, any unseemly thing: for an abomination unto Yahweh thy God, it would be.
2 If there is any man or woman among you, in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you, who does evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, sinning against his agreement,
When there shall be found in thy midst, within any of thy gates, which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee, man or woman who doeth the thing which is wicked in the eyes of Yahweh thy God by transgressing his covenant;
3 By becoming a servant of other gods and worshipping them or the sun or the moon or all the stars of heaven, against my orders;
yea hath gone, and served other gods, and bowed down unto them, —whether unto the sun or unto the moon or unto any of the host of the heavens which I have not commanded;
4 If word of this comes to your ears, then let this thing be looked into with care, and if there is no doubt that it is true, and such evil has been done in Israel;
and it shall be told thee and thou shalt hear, —and shalt enquire diligently, and lo! true—certain, is the report, this abominable thing hath been done in Israel,
5 Then you are to take the man or woman who has done the evil to the public place of your town, and they are to be stoned with stones till they are dead.
then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman who hath done this wicked thing, within thy gates—the man, or the woman, —and shalt stone them with stones that they die.
6 On the word of two or three witnesses, a man may be given the punishment of death; but he is not to be put to death on the word of one witness.
At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death, —he shall not be put to death at the mouth of one witness.
7 The hands of the witnesses will be the first to put him to death, and after them the hands of all the people. So you are to put away the evil from among you.
The hand of the witnesses, shall be upon him first to put him to death, and the hand of all the people, afterwards, —so shalt thou consume the wicked thing out of thy midst.
8 If you are not able to give a decision as to who is responsible for a death, or who is right in a cause, or who gave the first blow in a fight, and there is a division of opinion about it in your town: then go to the place marked out by the Lord your God;
When any matter of judgment, shall be too difficult for thee—between blood and blood between plea and plea or between stroke and stroke, matters of contention within thy gates, then shalt thou arise and go up unto the place which Yahweh thy God shall choose;
9 And come before the priests, the Levites, or before him who is judge at the time: and they will go into the question and give you a decision:
and shalt come in unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge who shall be in those days, —and shalt enquire and they shall declare unto thee, the sentence of judgment;
10 And you are to be guided by the decision they give in the place named by the Lord, and do whatever they say:
and thou shalt do according to the sentence which they shall declare unto thee, out of that place, which Yahweh, shall choose, —yea thou shalt observe to do according to all which they shall direct thee:
11 Acting in agreement with their teaching and the decision they give: not turning to one side or the other from the word they have given you.
according to the direction wherewith they direct thee and after the judgment which they shall announce to thee, shalt thou do, —thou shalt not turn aside from the sentence which they shall declare unto thee to the right hand or to the left.
12 And any man who, in his pride, will not give ear to the priest whose place is there before the Lord your God, or to the judge, is to be put to death: you are to put away the evil from Israel.
And, the man who shall do presumptuously by not hearkening unto the priest that standeth to minister there to Yahweh thy God, or unto the judge, that man shall die, and so shalt thou consume the wicked thing out of Israel.
13 And all the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear and put away their pride.
And, all the people, shall hear and fear, —and shall not act presumptuously any more.
14 When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken it for a heritage and are living in it, if it is your desire to have a king over you, like the other nations round about you;
When thou shalt enter into the land which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee, and shalt possess it and dwell therein, —and shalt say—I will set over me a king, like all the nations that are round about me,
15 Then see that you take as your king the man named by the Lord your God: let your king be one of your countrymen, not a man of another nation who is not one of yourselves.
thou shalt, set, over thee as king, him whom Yahweh thy God shall choose, —out of the midst of thy brethren, shalt thou set over thee a king, thou mayest not appoint over thee a man that is a foreigner, who is not thy brother.
16 And he is not to get together a great army of horses for himself, or make the people go back to Egypt to get horses for him: because the Lord has said, You will never again go back that way.
Moreover he shall not multiply to himself horses, neither shall he cause the people to return to Egypt that he may multiply horses, —when, Yahweh, hath said unto you, Ye shall not again return this way any more.
17 And he is not to have a great number of wives, for fear that his heart may be turned away; or great wealth of silver and gold.
Neither shall he multiply to himself wives, that his heart turn not aside, —nor silver and gold, shall he multiply to himself greatly.
18 And when he has taken his place on the seat of his kingdom, he is to make in a book a copy of this law, from that which the priests, the Levites, have in their care:
But it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, then shall he write for himself a copy of this law upon a scroll, out of that which is before the priests the Levites:
19 And it is to be with him for his reading all the days of his life, so that he may be trained in the fear of the Lord his God to keep and do all the words of this teaching and these laws:
so shall it be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, —that he may learn to revere Yahweh his God, to observe all the words of this law and these statutes to do them:
20 So that his heart may not be lifted up over his countrymen, and he may not be turned away from the orders, to one side or the other: but that his life and the lives of his children may be long in his kingdom in Israel.
that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, and he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, —that he may prolong his days over his kingdom—he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.

< Deuteronomy 17 >