Deuteronomy 17

1 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto Yhwh thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto Yhwh thy God.

Thou shalt not sacrifice to the Lord thy God a calf or a sheep, in which there is a blemish, [or] any evil thing; for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.

2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which Yhwh thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of Yhwh thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

And if there should be found in any one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God gives thee, a man or a woman who shall do that which is evil before the Lord thy God, so as to transgress his covenant,

3 And hath 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;

and they should go and serve other gods, and worship them, the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which he commanded thee not to do,

4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

and it be told thee, and thou shalt have enquired diligently, and, behold, the thing really took place, this abomination has been done in Israel;

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

then shalt thou bring out that man, or that woman, and ye shall stone them with stones, and they shall die.

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.

He shall die on the testimony of two or three witnesses; a man who is put to death shall not be put to death for one witness.

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

And the hand of the witnesses shall be upon him among the first to put him to death, and the hand of the people at the last; so shalt thou remove the evil one from among yourselves.

8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which Yhwh thy God shall choose;

And if a matter shall be too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, and between cause and cause, and between stroke and stroke, and between contradiction and contradiction, matters of judgment in your cities;

9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

then thou shalt arise and go up to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and thou shalt come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days, and they shall search out [the matter] and report the judgment to thee.

10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which Yhwh shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:

And thou shalt act according to the thing which they shall report to thee out of the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and thou shalt observe to do all whatsoever shall have been by law appointed to thee.

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

Thou shalt do according to the law and to the judgment which they shall declare to thee: thou shalt not swerve to the right hand or to the left from any sentence which they shall report to thee.

12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before Yhwh thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

And the man whosoever shall act in haughtiness, so as not to hearken to the priest who stands to minister in the name of the Lord thy God, or the judge who shall preside in those days, that man shall die, and thou shalt remove the evil one out of Israel.

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

And all the people shall hear and fear, and shall no more commit impiety.

14 When thou art come unto the land which Yhwh thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;

And when thou shalt enter into the land which the Lord thy God gives thee, and shalt inherit it and dwell in it, and shalt say, I will set a ruler over me, as also the other nations round about me;

15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom Yhwh thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

thou shalt surely set over thee the ruler whom the Lord God shall choose: of thy brethren thou shalt set over thee a ruler; thou shalt not have power to set over thee a stranger, because he is not thy 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: forasmuch as Yhwh hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

For he shall not multiply to himself horses, and he shall by no means turn the people back to Egypt, lest he should multiply to himself horses; for the Lord said, Ye shall not any more turn back by that 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.

And he shall not multiply to himself wives, lest his heart turn away; and he shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon 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:

And when he shall be established in his government, then shall he write for himself this repetition of the law into a book by the hands of the priests the Levites;

19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear Yhwh 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 in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord thy God, and to keep all these commandments, and to observe these ordinances:

20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, 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 midst of Israel.

that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, that he depart not from the commandments on the right hand or on the left; that he and his sons may reign long in his dominion among the children of Israel.