Deuteronomy 17
1 Don't sacrifice to the Lord your God cattle or a sheep that has a defect or has something seriously wrong, for that is offensive to the Lord your God.
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.
2 There may be a report that one of you, whether a man or a woman, living in a town that the Lord your God gave you, has been found to be sinning in the sight of the Lord your God by breaking the Lord's agreement.
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,
3 This person has done this by going to worship other gods, bowing down to them—or to the sun, moon, or any of the stars of heaven—which I have ordered you not to do.
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;
4 If you hear such a report, you need to make a full investigation. If you find out that the report is true, and that such an awful sin has been committed in Israel,
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;
5 you must have the man or woman who has committed this terrible act taken outside the town and stoned to death.
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.
6 That person is to be executed based on the evidence given by two or three witnesses. No one shall be executed on the evidence given by a single witness.
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.
7 The witnesses must act first in executing the person, and then the rest of those who are present. You must eliminate the evil from among you.
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.
8 If there's a case before your town court that is too problematic for you to settle, whether the argument is over murder or manslaughter, one legal decision against another, or different degrees of assault, you must take the issue to the place the Lord your God will choose.
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;
9 Go to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge in charge. Present the case to them, and they will give you their decision.
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:
10 You must abide by the decision they give you there at the place the Lord will choose. Make sure you do everything they tell you to do,
And you are to be guided by the decision they give in the place named by the Lord, and do whatever they say:
11 in accordance with the legal instructions they give you and the verdict they delivered. Don't deviate from the decision they give you.
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.
12 Anyone who treats with contempt either the priest (who ministers before the Lord your God) or the judge, must be executed. You must eliminate this evil from Israel.
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.
13 Then everyone else will hear about it and be afraid, and won't act with contempt in the future.
And all the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear and put away their pride.
14 After you've entered the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken it over and settled in it, and you decide, “Let's have a king to rule over us like all the other nations around us do,”
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;
15 you can have a king but only one chosen by the Lord your God. He must be an Israelite. You must not have a king who is a foreigner; someone who is not an Israelite.
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.
16 Your king must not have large numbers of horses, or send his men to Egypt to buy more horses, because the Lord has declared, “You must never to return there again.”
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.
17 He must not have many wives, so they don't lead him away from following the Lord. He must not have large quantities of silver and gold.
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.
18 Once he is king and sits on his royal throne, he must make a copy for himself of these instructions, writing them on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.
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:
19 He is to keep it with him, and he is to read from it each day throughout his life, so he may learn to respect the Lord his God by being careful to follow every word of these instructions and regulations.
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:
20 Then he won't think more of himself than his fellow Israelites, and he won't deviate from the commandments, so that he and his sons may have long reigns over the kingdom of Israel.
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.
