18 “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your [a]towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 (A)You shall not distort justice, (B)you shall not [b]show partiality; and (C)you shall not accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous. 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that (D)you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

21 (E)You shall not plant for yourself an [c]Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself. 22 And (F)you shall not set up for yourself a memorial stone, which the Lord your God hates.

Administration of Justice

17 (G)You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any [d]defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God.

(H)If there is found in your midst, in any of your [e]towns which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by violating His covenant, and that person has gone and (I)served other gods and worshiped them, (J)or the sun, the moon, or any of the heavenly [f]lights, (K)which I have commanded not to do, and if it is reported to you and you have heard about it, then you shall investigate thoroughly. And [g]if it is true and the report is trustworthy that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then you are to bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil deed, that is, the man or the woman, and (L)you shall stone them to [h]death. (M)On the [i]testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, the [j]condemned shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the [k]testimony of only one witness. (N)The hands of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. (O)So you shall eliminate the evil from your midst.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 16:18 Lit gates
  2. Deuteronomy 16:19 Lit recognize faces
  3. Deuteronomy 16:21 I.e., wooden symbol of a female deity
  4. Deuteronomy 17:1 Lit bad thing
  5. Deuteronomy 17:2 Lit gates
  6. Deuteronomy 17:3 Lit host
  7. Deuteronomy 17:4 Lit behold, true
  8. Deuteronomy 17:5 Lit death with stones
  9. Deuteronomy 17:6 Lit mouth
  10. Deuteronomy 17:6 Lit one dying
  11. Deuteronomy 17:6 Lit mouth

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