Deuteronomy 17

Administration of Justice

1“1You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any 2defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God.

2“3If there is found in your midst, in any of your 4towns 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, 3and that person has gone and 5served other gods and worshiped them, 6or the sun, the moon, or any of the heavenly 7lights, 8which I have commanded not to do, 4and if it is reported to you and you have heard about it, then you shall investigate thoroughly. And 9if it is true and the report is trustworthy that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5then 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 10you shall stone them to 11death. 612On the 13testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, the 14condemned shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the 15testimony of only one witness. 716The hands of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. 17So you shall eliminate the evil from your midst.

8“18If a case is too difficult for you to decide, between 19one kind of homicide or another, between 20one kind of lawsuit or another, and between 21one kind of assault or another, that are cases of dispute in your 22courts, then you shall arise and go up to 23the place which the Lord your God chooses. 9So you shall come to 24the Levitical priests or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the 25verdict. 10Then you shall act in accordance with the 26terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be careful to act in accordance with everything that they instruct you to do. 1127In accordance with the 28terms of the law about which they instruct you, and in accordance with the verdict which they tell you, you shall act; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. 12But the person who acts 29insolently by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to the judge, that person shall die; so you shall eliminate the evil from Israel. 13Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act 30insolently again.

14“When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you 31take possession of it and live in it, and you say, ‘32I will appoint a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15you shall in fact appoint a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One 33from among your countrymen you shall appoint as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves, anyone who is not your countryman. 1634In any case, he is not to acquire many horses for himself, nor shall he 35make the people return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since 36the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17And 37he shall not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

18“Now it shall come about, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Law on a scroll 3839in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19And it shall be with him, and he shall read it 40all the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear the Lord his God, 41by carefully following all the words of this Law and these statutes, 20so that his heart will not be haughty toward his countrymen, 42and that he will not turn away from the commandment to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may 43live long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.