Chapter 17

No ox or sheep which has a mark on it or is damaged in any way may be offered to the Lord your God: for that is disgusting to the Lord your God.

If there is any man or woman among you, in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you, who does evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, sinning against his agreement,

By becoming a servant of other gods and worshipping them or the sun or the moon or all the stars of heaven, against my orders;

If word of this comes to your ears, then let this thing be looked into with care, and if there is no doubt that it is true, and such evil has been done in Israel;

Then you are to take the man or woman who has done the evil to the public place of your town, and they are to be stoned with stones till they are dead.

On the word of two or three witnesses, a man may be given the punishment of death; but he is not to be put to death on the word of one witness.

The hands of the witnesses will be the first to put him to death, and after them the hands of all the people. So you are to put away the evil from among you.

If you are not able to give a decision as to who is responsible for a death, or who is right in a cause, or who gave the first blow in a fight, and there is a division of opinion about it in your town: then go to the place marked out by the Lord your God;

And come before the priests, the Levites, or before him who is judge at the time: and they will go into the question and give you a decision:

And you are to be guided by the decision they give in the place named by the Lord, and do whatever they say:

Acting in agreement with their teaching and the decision they give: not turning to one side or the other from the word they have given you.

And any man who, in his pride, will not give ear to the priest whose place is there before the Lord your God, or to the judge, is to be put to death: you are to put away the evil from Israel.

And all the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear and put away their pride.

When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken it for a heritage and are living in it, if it is your desire to have a king over you, like the other nations round about you;

Then see that you take as your king the man named by the Lord your God: let your king be one of your countrymen, not a man of another nation who is not one of yourselves.

And he is not to get together a great army of horses for himself, or make the people go back to Egypt to get horses for him: because the Lord has said, You will never again go back that way.

And he is not to have a great number of wives, for fear that his heart may be turned away; or great wealth of silver and gold.

And when he has taken his place on the seat of his kingdom, he is to make in a book a copy of this law, from that which the priests, the Levites, have in their care:

And it is to be with him for his reading all the days of his life, so that he may be trained in the fear of the Lord his God to keep and do all the words of this teaching and these laws:

So that his heart may not be lifted up over his countrymen, and he may not be turned away from the orders, to one side or the other: but that his life and the lives of his children may be long in his kingdom in Israel.