Deuteronomy 17:8-20
New King James Version
8 (A)“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the (B)place which the Lord your God chooses. 9 And (C)you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and (D)to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; (E)they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. 10 You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. 11 According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. 12 Now (F)the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13 (G)And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.
Principles Governing Kings
14 “When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, (H)‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you shall surely set a king over you (I)whom the Lord your God chooses; one (J)from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 But he shall not multiply (K)horses for himself, nor cause the people (L)to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for (M)the Lord has said to you, (N)‘You shall not return that way again.’ 17 Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and (O)gold for himself.
18 “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one (P)before the priests, the Levites. 19 And (Q)it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his heart may not [a]be lifted above his brethren, that he (R)may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may [b]prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 17:20 become proud
- Deuteronomy 17:20 continue long in his kingdom
Exodus 22:28
New King James Version
28 (A)“You shall not revile God, nor curse a (B)ruler of your people.
Read full chapter
Deuteronomy 16:18
New King James Version
Justice Must Be Administered
18 “You shall appoint (A)judges and officers in all your [a]gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 16:18 towns
Exodus 23:1-2
New King James Version
Justice for All
23 “You (A)shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an (B)unrighteous witness. 2 (C)You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; (D)nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.
Read full chapter
Exodus 23:7-8
New King James Version
7 (A)Keep yourself far from a false matter; (B)do not kill the innocent and righteous. For (C)I will not justify the wicked. 8 And (D)you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.
Read full chapter
Leviticus 19:15
New King James Version
15 ‘You shall do no injustice in (A)judgment. You shall not (B)be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
Read full chapter
Deuteronomy 24:16-18
New King James Version
16 (A)“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.
17 (B)“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, (C)nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. 18 But (D)you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.
Read full chapter
Deuteronomy 16:19-20
New King James Version
19 (A)You shall not pervert justice; (B)you shall not [a]show partiality, (C)nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and [b]twists the words of the righteous. 20 You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may (D)live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 16:19 Lit. regard faces
- Deuteronomy 16:19 perverts
Deuteronomy 5:20
New King James Version
20 (A)‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Deuteronomy 19:15-21
New King James Version
The Law Concerning Witnesses
15 (A)“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. 16 If a false witness (B)rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, (C)before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. 18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 (D)then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so (E)you shall put away the evil from among you. 20 (F)And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21 (G)Your eye shall not pity: (H)life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Read full chapter
Deuteronomy 25:1-3
New King James Version
Laws of Social Responsibility
25 “If there is a (A)dispute between men, and they come to [a]court, that the judges may judge them, and they (B)justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, 2 then it shall be, if the wicked man (C)deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down (D)and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. 3 (E)Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother (F)be humiliated in your sight.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 25:1 Lit. the judgment
Deuteronomy 21:22-23
New King James Version
Miscellaneous Laws
22 “If a man has committed a sin (A)deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 (B)his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that (C)you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for (D)he who is hanged is accursed of God.
Read full chapterScripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.