17 2 The punishment of the idolater. 9 Hard controversies are brought to the Priest and the Judge. 12 The contemner must die. 15 The election of the King, 16 and 17 What things he ought to avoid, etc.
1 Thou shalt offer unto the Lord thy God no bullock nor sheep wherein is (A)[a]a blemish or any evil favored thing: for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God.
2 ¶ If there be found among you in any of thy cities, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or [b]woman that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant,
3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them: as the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not [c]commanded,
4 And it be told unto thee, and thou hast heard it, then shalt thou inquire diligently: and if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel,
5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man, or that woman (which hath committed that wicked thing) unto thy gates, whether it be man or woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
6 (B)At the mouth [d]of two or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death, die: but at the mouth of one witness, he shall not die.
7 The hands of the [e]witnesses shall be first upon him, to kill him: and afterward the hands of all the [f]people: so thou shalt take the wicked away from among you.
8 ¶ If there rise a matter too hard for thee in judgment between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between plague and plague, in the matter of controversy within thy gates, then shalt thou arise, and go up unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose,
9 And thou shalt come unto the Priests of the Levites, and unto the [g]Judge that shall be in those days, and ask, and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment,
10 And thou shalt do according to that thing, which they of that place (which the Lord hath chosen) show thee, and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee.
11 According to the Law, which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, shalt [h]thou do: thou shalt not decline from the thing which they shalt show thee, neither to the right hand, nor the left.
12 And that man that will do presumptuously, not hearkening unto the Priest (that standeth before the Lord thy God to [i]minister there) or unto the Judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away evil from Israel.
13 So all the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
14 ¶ When thou shalt come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and dwell therein, if thou say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me,
15 Then thou shalt make him King over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: from among thy brethren shalt thou make a King over thee: thou [j]shalt not set a [k]stranger over thee which is not thy brother.
16 In any wise he shall not prepare him many horses, nor bring the people again to [l]Egypt, for to increase the number of horses, seeing the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth go no more again that way.
17 Neither shall he take him many wives, lest his heart [m]turn away, neither shall he gather him much silver and gold.
18 And when he shall sit upon the throne of his Kingdom, then shall he write him this [n]law repeated in a book, by the [o]Priest of the Levites.
19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and to keep all the words of this Law, and these ordinances to do them:
20 That his heart be not lifted up above his [p]brethren, and that he turn not from the commandment, to the right hand or to the left, but that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 17:1 Thou shalt not serve God for fashion’s sake, as hypocrites do.
- Deuteronomy 17:2 Showing that the crime cannot be excused by the frailty of the person.
- Deuteronomy 17:3 Whereby he condemneth all religion and serving of God which God hath not commanded.
- Deuteronomy 17:6 Hebrew, of two witnesses or three witnesses.
- Deuteronomy 17:7 Whereby they declared that they testifieth the truth.
- Deuteronomy 17:7 To signify a common consent to maintain God’s honor and true religion.
- Deuteronomy 17:9 Who shall give sentence as the Priests counsel him by the Law of God.
- Deuteronomy 17:11 Thou shalt obey their sentence that the controversy may have an end.
- Deuteronomy 17:12 So long as he is the true minister of God, and pronounceth according to his word.
- Deuteronomy 17:15 Or, mayest not.
- Deuteronomy 17:15 Who is not of thy nation, lest he change true religion into idolatry, and bring thee to slavery.
- Deuteronomy 17:16 To revenge their injuries, and to take them of their best horses, 1 Kings 10:28.
- Deuteronomy 17:17 From the Law of God.
- Deuteronomy 17:18 Meaning, the Deuteronomy.
- Deuteronomy 17:18 He shall cause it to be written by them, or he shall write it by their example.
- Deuteronomy 17:20 Whereby is meant, that Kings ought so to love their subjects as nature bindeth one brother to love another.