Deuteronomy 17
1 “Do not sacrifice to Yahweh our God any cattle or sheep or goats that have any defects, because Yahweh hates that kind of gift.”
Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock, or lamb, whereon there is a blemish, any thing evil; for it is an abomination unto the Lord thy God.
2 “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.
If there be found in the midst of thee, within any one of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. a man or a woman, that doth the wickedness in the eyes of the Lord thy God, to transgress his covenant,
3 Suppose someone tells you that that person has worshiped and served other gods, or the sun, or the moon, or the stars.
And he hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have prohibited;
4 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,
And it be told thee, and thou hearest of it: then shalt thou inquire diligently; and, behold, if it be true, the thing is certain, such abomination hath been wrought in Israel:
5 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.
Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, who have committed this wicked thing, unto thy gates, the man or the woman, and thou shalt stone them with stones till they die.
6 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.
Upon the evidence of two witnesses, or of three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; he shall not be put to death upon the evidence of one witness.
7 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.”
The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people at the last; and thou shalt put the evil away from the midst of thee.
8 “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].
If a matter be unknown to thee for decision, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between bodily injury and injury, [or] matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which the Lord thy God will choose;
9 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.
And thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that may be in those days, and thou shalt inquire, and they shall inform thee of the sentence of the case;
10 After they make their decision, you must do what they tell you to do.
And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they may tell thee from that place which the Lord will choose, and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they may instruct thee;
11 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].
In accordance with the instruction which they may instruct thee, and according to the decision which they may say unto thee, shalt thou do: thou shalt not depart from the sentence which they may tell thee, to the right, or to the left.
12 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.
And the man that will act presumptuously, so as not to hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
13 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.”
And all the people shall hear, and be afraid, and not act presumptuously any more.
14 “[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.’
When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou hast taken possession of it, and dwellest therein, and thou sayest, I wish to set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me:
15 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.
Then mayest thou indeed set a king over thee, the one whom the Lord thy God will choose; [but] from the midst of thy brethren shalt thou set a king over thee; thou mayest not set over thee a stranger, who is not thy brother.
16 [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’]!
Only he shall not acquire for himself many horses; so that he may not cause the people to return to Egypt, in order to acquire many horses; whereas the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth not return on that way any more.
17 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.
Neither shall he take to himself many wives, that his heart may not turn away; nor shall he acquire for himself too much silver and gold.
18 “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.
And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book out of [that which is] before the priests, the Levites;
19 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.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: in order that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them.
20 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.”
So that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and so that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right, or to the left: in order that he may live many days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
