Deuteronomy 17

1 You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any bad reputation: for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.

“You shall not immolate to the Lord your God a sheep or an ox, in which there is a blemish or any defect at all; for this is an abomination to the Lord your God.

2 If there be found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, man or woman, that has worked wickedness in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant,

When there will have been found among you, within one of your gates which the Lord your God will give to you, a man or a woman who is doing evil in the sight of the Lord your God, and who is transgressing his covenant,

3 And has gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

so as to go and serve foreign gods and adore them, such as the sun and the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not instructed,

4 And it be told you, and you have heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is worked in Israel:

and when this will have been reported to you, and, upon hearing it, if you have inquired diligently and have found it to be true, that the abomination is being done in Israel:

5 Then shall you bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, to your gates, even that man or that woman, and shall stone them with stones, till they die.

you shall lead forward the man or the woman who has perpetrated this most wicked thing to the gates of your city, and they shall be stoned to death.

6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

By the mouth of two or three witnesses, he who is to be put to death shall perish. Let no one be killed with only one person speaking testimony against him.

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 put the evil away from among you.

First, the hands of the witnesses shall be upon him who will be put to death, and lastly, the hands of the remainder of the people shall be sent forth. So may you take away the evil from your midst.

8 If there arise 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 shall you arise, and get you up into the place which the LORD your God shall choose;

If you have perceived that there is among you a difficult and doubtful matter of judgment, between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and leprosy, and if you will have seen that the words of the judges within your gates vary: rise up and ascend to the place which the Lord your God will choose.

9 And you shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment:

And you shall approach the priests of the Levitical stock, and the judge, who shall be among them at that time, and you shall inquire of them, and they will reveal to you the truth of the judgment.

10 And you shall do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall show you; and you shall observe to do according to all that they inform you:

And you shall accept whatever they will say, those who preside in the place which the Lord will choose, and whatever they will teach you,

11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do: you shall not decline from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left.

in accord with his law, and you shall follow their sentence. Neither shall you turn aside to the right or to the left.

12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not listen to the priest that stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.

But whoever will be arrogant, unwilling to obey the order of the priest who ministers at that time to the Lord your God, and the decree of the judge, that man shall die. And so shall you take away the evil from Israel.

13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

And when the people hear about this, they shall be afraid, so that no one, from that time on, will swell with pride.

14 When you are come to the land which the LORD your God gives you, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;

When you will have entered into the land which the Lord your God will give to you, and you possess it, and you live in it, and you say, ‘I will appoint a king over me, just as all the surrounding nations have done,’

15 You shall in any wise set him king over you, whom the LORD your God shall choose: one from among your brothers shall you set king over you: you may not set a stranger over you, which is not your brother.

you shall appoint him whom the Lord your God will choose from among the number of your brothers. You cannot make a man of another people king, one who is not your brother.

16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: for as much as the LORD has said to you, You shall from now on return no more that way.

And when he will have been appointed king, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor lead the people back into Egypt, having been exalted by the number of his horsemen, especially since the Lord has instructed you never to return along the same way.

17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

He shall not have many wives, who might allure his mind, and he shall not have immense weights of silver and gold.

18 And it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

Then, after he has been seated upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a volume, using a copy from the priests of the Levitical tribe.

19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein 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 he shall have it with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and to keep his words and ceremonies, which are instructed in the law.

20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brothers, and that he turn not aside 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.

And so may his heart not become exalted with arrogance over his brothers, nor turn aside to the right or to the left, so that he and his sons may reign for a long time over Israel.”