Deuteronomy 17

1 Thou shalt not sacrifice to the Lord thy God a sheep, or an ox, wherein there is blemish, or any fault: for that is an abomination to the Lord thy God.

“Do not sacrifice to Yahweh our God any cattle or sheep or goats that have any defects, because Yahweh hates that kind of gift.”

2 When there shall be found among you within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God shall give thee, man or woman that do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, and transgress his covenant,

“When you are living in any of the towns [in the land] that Yahweh our God is giving to you, suppose you hear that there is some man or woman who sins by disobeying the agreement that Yahweh has made with you.

3 So as to go and serve strange gods, and adore them, the sun and the moon. and all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded:

Suppose someone tells you that that person has worshiped and served other gods, or the sun, or the moon, or the stars.

4 And this is told thee, and hearing it thou hast inquired diligently, and found it to be true, and that the abomination is committed in Israel:

If you hear that some person has been doing that, you must investigate it thoroughly. If [you find out that] it is true that this detestable thing has happened in Israel,

5 Thou shalt bring forth the man or the woman, who have committed that most wicked thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be stoned.

you must take outside the town the man or woman who has done it. Then you must kill that person by throwing stones at him or her.

6 By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he die that is to be slain. Let no man be put to death, when only one beareth witness against him.

But you are allowed to execute such people only if at least two witnesses testify that they saw them [doing that]. They must not be executed if there is only one witness.

7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to kill him, and afterwards the hands of the rest of the people: that thou mayst take away the evil out of the midst of thee.

The (witnesses/ones who saw them doing it) must be the first ones to throw stones at them. Then the other people [MTY] [should throw stones at them]. By doing that, you will get rid of this evil practice among you.”

8 If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter in judgment between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and leprosy: and thou see that the words of the judges within thy gates do vary: arise, and go up to the place, which the Lord thy God shall choose.

“Sometimes it will be very difficult for a judge to decide what really happened. He might be trying to decide whether, when someone injured or killed another person, he did it accidentally or deliberately. Or he might be trying to decide if some person is suing another person unfairly. If in some town it is very difficult to know what really happened, with the result that the judge cannot decide it, you should go to the place that Yahweh our God has chosen for you [to worship him].

9 And thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to the judge, that shall be at that time: and thou shalt ask of them, and they shall shew thee the truth of the judgment.

There you should present the case to the descendants of Levi who are the priests, and to the judge who is serving at that time, and they should decide what should be done.

10 And thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the place, which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee,

After they make their decision, you must do what they tell you to do.

11 According to his law; and thou shalt follow their sentence: neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand.

Accept what they have decided, and do what they say that you should do. Do not try to change in any way what they have decided [IDM].

12 But he that will be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment of the priest, who ministereth at that time to the Lord thy God, and the decree of the judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the evil from Israel:

You must execute anyone who proudly/arrogantly disobeys the judge or the priest who stands there in the presence of Yahweh [and decides what should be done]. By doing that, you will get rid of evil practices among you.

13 And all the people hearing it shall fear, that no one afterwards swell with pride.

Then [after that person is executed], all the people will hear about it, and they will be afraid, and none of them will act that way any more.”

14 When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee, and possessest it, and shalt say: I will set a king over me, as all nations have that are round about:

“[I know that] after you have occupied the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, and you are living there, you will say, ‘We should have a king to rule over us, like the kings that other nations around us have.’

15 Thou shalt set him whom the Lord thy God shall choose out of the number of thy brethren. Thou mayst not make a man of another nation king, that is not thy brother.

Yahweh our God will permit you to have a king, but be sure that you appoint someone whom he has chosen. That man must be an Israeli; you must not appoint someone who is a foreigner to be your king.

16 And when he is made king, he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead back the people into Egypt, being lifted up with the number of his horsemen, especially since the Lord hath commanded you to return no more the same way.

[After he becomes the king], he should not acquire a large number of horses for himself. He should not send people to Egypt to buy horses for him, because Yahweh said to you, ‘Never return to Egypt [for anything’]!

17 He shall not have many wives, that may allure his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold.

And he must not have a lot of wives, because if he did that, they would turn him [SYN] away from [worshiping only] Yahweh. And he must not acquire a lot of silver and gold.

18 But after he is raised to the throne of his kingdom, he shall copy out to himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a volume, taking the copy of the priests of the Levitical tribe,

“When he becomes your king, he must [appoint someone to] copy these laws. He must copy them from the scroll that is kept by the priests who are descended from Levi.

19 And he shall have it with him, and shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and keep his words and ceremonies, that are commanded in the law;

He must keep this new scroll near him and read from it every day of his life, in order that he may learn to revere Yahweh, and to faithfully obey [DOU] all the rules and regulations [that are written] in these laws.

20 And that his heart be not lifted up with pride over his brethren, nor decline to the right or to the left, that he and his sons may reign a long time over Israel.

If he does that, he [SYN] will not think that he is (better/more important) than [IDM] his fellow Israelis, and he will completely obey [LIT] Yahweh’s commands. As a result, he and his descendants will rule as kings in Israel for many years.”