17:1 “You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any ①defect, for that is a detestable thing to the LORD your God.
▷ ①Lit bad thing
17:2 “If there is found in your midst, in any of your ①towns 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,
▷ ①Lit gates
17:3 and that person has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun, the moon, or any of the heavenly ①lights, which I have commanded not to do,
▷ ①Lit host
17:4 and if it is reported to you and you have heard about it, then you shall investigate thoroughly. And ①if it is true and the report is trustworthy that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,
▷ ①Lit behold, true
17:5 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 you shall stone them to ①death.
▷ ①Lit death with stones
17:6 On the ①testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, the ②condemned shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the ③testimony of only one witness.
▷ ①Lit mouth ②Lit one dying ③Lit mouth
17:7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall eliminate the evil from your midst.
17:8 “If a case is too difficult for you to decide, between ①one kind of homicide or another, between ②one kind of lawsuit or another, and between ③one kind of assault or another, that are cases of dispute in your ④courts, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses.
▷ ①Lit blood to blood ②Lit lawsuit to lawsuit ③Lit blow to blow ④Lit gates
17:9 So you shall come to the 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 ①verdict.
▷ ①Lit word of decision
17:10 Then you shall act in accordance with the ①terms 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.
▷ ①Lit mouth
17:11 In accordance with the ①terms 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.
▷ ①Lit mouth
17:12 But the person who acts insolently 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.
17:13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act insolently again.
17:14 “When you enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and you take possession of it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will appoint a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’
17:15 you shall in fact appoint a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses. One from among your countrymen you shall appoint as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves, anyone who is not your countryman.
17:16 In any case, he is not to acquire many horses for himself, nor shall he make the people return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’
17:17 And he 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.
17:18 “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 ①in the presence of the Levitical priests.
▷ ①Lit from before
17:19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear the LORD his God, ①by carefully following all the words of this Law and these statutes,
▷ ①Lit to keep all...to do them,
17:20 so that his heart will not be haughty toward his countrymen, and that he will not turn away from the commandment to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may ①live long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.
▷ ①Lit prolong days