Deuteronomy 17
English Standard Version
17 (A)“You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.
2 (B)“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, (C)in transgressing his covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or (D)the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, (E)which I have forbidden, 4 and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire (F)diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you (G)shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. 6 (H)On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 (I)The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So (J)you shall purge[a] the evil[b] from your midst.
Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges
8 “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to (K)the place that the Lord your God will choose. 9 (L)And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and (M)they shall declare to you the decision. 10 Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the Lord will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. 11 According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. 12 The man who (N)acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest (O)who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So (P)you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people (Q)shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again.
Laws Concerning Israel's Kings
14 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, (R)‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you may indeed set a king over you (S)whom the Lord your God will choose. One (T)from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he must not acquire many (U)horses for himself or cause the people (V)to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, (W)‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he (X)shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, (Y)nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.
18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, (Z)he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, (AA)approved by[c] the Levitical priests. 19 And (AB)it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, (AC)that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he (AD)may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, (AE)so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 17:7 Septuagint drive out; also verse 12
- Deuteronomy 17:7 Or evil person; also verse 12
- Deuteronomy 17:18 Hebrew from before
Deuteronomy 17
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 17
1 You shall not sacrifice to the Lord, your God, an ox or a sheep with any serious defect;(A) that would be an abomination to the Lord, your God.
2 (B)If there is found in your midst, in any one of the communities which the Lord, your God, gives you, a man or a woman who does evil in the sight of the Lord, your God, and transgresses his covenant,(C) 3 by going to serve other gods, by bowing down to them, to the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, contrary to my command;(D) 4 and if you are told or hear of it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the truth of the matter is established that this abomination has been committed in Israel, 5 you shall bring the man or the woman who has done this evil deed out to your gates[a] and stone the man or the woman to death. 6 Only on the testimony of two or three witnesses shall a person be put to death;(E) no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be the first raised to put the person to death, and afterward the hands of all the people.(F) Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.
Judges. 8 (G)If there is a case for judgment which proves too baffling for you to decide, in a matter of bloodshed or of law or of injury, matters of dispute within your gates, you shall then go up to the place which the Lord, your God, will choose, 9 to the levitical priests or to the judge who is in office at that time. They shall investigate the case and then announce to you the decision.(H) 10 You shall act according to the decision they announce to you in the place which the Lord will choose, carefully observing everything as they instruct you. 11 You shall carry out the instruction they give you and the judgment they pronounce, without turning aside either to the right or left from the decision they announce to you. 12 Anyone who acts presumptuously and does not obey the priest[b] who officiates there in the ministry of the Lord, your God, or the judge, shall die. Thus shall you purge the evil from Israel. 13 And all the people, on hearing of it, shall fear, and will never again act presumptuously.(I)
The King. 14 (J)When you have come into the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, should you then decide, “I will set a king over me, like all the surrounding nations,”(K) 15 you may indeed set over you a king whom the Lord, your God, will choose.(L) Someone from among your own kindred you may set over you as king; you may not set over you a foreigner, who is no kin of yours. 16 [c]But he shall not have a great number of horses; nor shall he make his people go back again to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the Lord said to you, Do not go back that way again.(M) 17 Neither shall he have a great number of wives, lest his heart turn away,(N) nor shall he accumulate a vast amount of silver and gold. 18 When he is sitting upon his royal throne, he shall write a copy of this law[d] upon a scroll from the one that is in the custody of the levitical priests.(O) 19 [e](P)It shall remain with him and he shall read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to fear the Lord, his God, and to observe carefully all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 so that he does not exalt himself over his kindred or turn aside from this commandment to the right or to the left, and so that he and his descendants may reign long in Israel.
Footnotes
- 17:5 Out to your gates: outside the gates, so as not to defile the city; cf. Lv 24:14; Nm 15:36; Acts 7:58; Hb 13:12.
- 17:12 The priest: the high priest; the judge: a layman. The court system here, involving lay and priestly officials, resembles the one whose establishment is attributed to King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chr 19:8–11 (cf. Ex 18:17–23 and Dt 1:17).
- 17:16–17 This restriction on royal acquisitions may have in mind the excesses of Solomon’s reign mentioned in 1 Kgs 10:1–11:6. Horses: chariotry for war. Egypt engaged in horse trading, and the danger envisioned here is that some king might make Israel a vassal of Egypt for military aid.
- 17:18 A copy of this law: the source of the name Deuteronomy, which in Hebrew is literally “double” or “copy”; in the Septuagint translated as deuteronomion, literally “a second law.” In Jerome’s Latin Vulgate as deuteronium.
- 17:19 The only positive requirement imposed upon the king is strict adherence to the Mosaic or Deuteronomic law. In that respect, the king’s primary task was to be a model Israelite.
Copyright © 2004 by World Bible Translation Center
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