Deuteronomy 17

1 Thou schalt not offre to thi Lord God an oxe and a scheep in which is a wem, ether ony thing of vice, for it is abhominacioun to thi Lord God.

You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep in which is a defect or anything evil; for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.

2 And whanne a man ether a womman, that doon yuel in the siyte of thi Lord God, ben foundun at thee, with ynne oon of thi yatis whiche thi Lord God schal yyue to thee, and thei breken the couenaunt of God,

If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, a man or woman who does that which is evil in the LORD your God’s sight in transgressing his covenant,

3 that thei go and serue alien goddis, and worschipe hem, the sunne, and moone, and al the knyythod of heuene, whiche thingis Y comaundide not;

and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the stars of the sky, which I have not commanded,

4 and this is teld to thee, and thou herist, and `enquerist diligentli, and fyndist that it is soth, and abhomynacioun is doon in Israel;

and you are told, and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel,

5 thou schalt lede out the man and the womman, that diden a moost cursid thing, to the yatis of thy citee, and thei schulen be oppressid with stoonus.

then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil thing to your gates, even that same man or woman; and you shall stone them to death with stones.

6 He that schal be slayn, schal perische in the mouth of tweyne, ethir of thre witnessis; no man be slayn, for o man seith witnessyng ayens hym.

At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

7 The hond of witnessis schal first sle hym, and the last hond of the tothir puple schal be sent, that thou do awei yuel fro the myddis of thee.

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 remove the evil from among you.

8 If thou perseyuest, that hard and douteful doom is at thee, bitwixe blood and blood, cause and cause, lepre and not lepre, and thou seest that the wordis of iugis with ynne thi yatis ben dyuerse; rise thou, and stie to the place which thi Lord God hath choose;

If there arises 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 you shall arise, and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses.

9 and thou schalt come to the preestis of the kyn of Leuy, and to the iuge which is in that tyme, and thou schalt axe of hem, whiche schulen schewe to thee the treuthe of doom.

You shall come to the priests who are Levites and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict.

10 And thou schalt do, what euer thing thei seien, that ben souereyns in the place which the Lord chees, and techen thee bi the lawe of the Lord;

You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which the LORD chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you.

11 thou schalt sue the sentence of hem; thou schalt not bowe to the riyt side, ether to the lefte.

According to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they announce to you, to the right hand, nor to the left.

12 Forsothe that man schal die, which is proud, and nyle obeie to the comaundement of the preest, `that mynystrith in that tyme to thi Lord God, and to the sentence of iuge, and thou schalt do awei yuel fro the myddis of Israel;

The man who does presumptuously in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel.

13 and al the puple schal here, and drede, that no man fro thennus forth bolne with pride.

All the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

14 Whanne thou hast entrid in to the lond, which thi Lord God schal yyue to thee, and weldist it, and dwellist therynne, and seist, Y schal ordeyne a kyng on me, as alle naciouns `bi cumpas han;

When you have come to the land which the LORD your God gives you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,”

15 thou schalt ordeyne hym, whom thi Lord God chesith of the noumbre of thi brethren. Thou schalt not mow make king a man of anothir folk, which man is not thi brother.

you shall surely set him whom the LORD your God chooses as king over yourselves. You shall set as king over you one from among your brothers. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.

16 And whanne the king is ordeyned, he schal not multiplie horsis to hym, nethir he schal lede ayen the puple in to Egipt, nethir he schal be reisid bi the noumbre of knyytis, moost sithen the Lord comaundide to you, that ye turne no more ayen bi the same weie.

Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because the LORD has said to you, “You shall not go back that way again.”

17 The kyng schal not haue ful many wyues, that drawen his soule `to ouer myche fleischlynesse, nether `he schal haue grete burthuns of siluer and of gold.

He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18 Forsothe after that he hath sete in the trone of his rewme, he schal write to himsilf the deuteronomy of this lawe in a `volym ether book, and he schal take `a saumpler at preestis of `the kyn of Leuy;

It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the Levitical priests.

19 and he schal haue it with hym, and he schal rede it in alle the daies of his lijf, that he lerne to drede his Lord God, and to kepe hise wordis and cerymonyes, that ben comaundid in the lawe;

It shall be with him, and he shall read from it 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;

20 nether his herte be reisid in to pride on hise brithren, nether bowe he in to the riyt side, ether left side, that he regne long tyme, he and hise sones on Israel.

that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn away 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.