Deuteronomy
17
- Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God an
ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable
to him.
- If a man or woman living among you in one
of the towns the LORD gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the LORD
your God in violation of his covenant,
- and contrary to my command has worshiped
other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars of
the sky,
- and this has been brought to your attention,
then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved
that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,
- take the man or woman who has done this
evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death.
- On the testimony of two or three witnesses
a man shall be put to death, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony
of only one witness.
- The hands of the witnesses must be the first
in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge
the evil from among you.
- If cases come before your courts that are
too difficult for you to judge -- whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults--take
them to the place the LORD your God will choose.
- Go to the priests, who are Levites, and
to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will
give you the verdict.
- You must act according to the decisions
they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything
they direct you to do.
- Act according to the law they teach you
and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you,
to the right or to the left.
- The man who shows contempt for the judge
or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God must be
put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.
- All the people will hear and be afraid,
and will not be contemptuous again.
- When you enter the land the LORD your God
is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say,
"Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,"
- be sure to appoint over you the king the
LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place
a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite.
- The king, moreover, must not acquire great
numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more
of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way
again."
- He must not take many wives, or his heart
will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
- When he takes the throne of his kingdom,
he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that
of the priests, who are Levites.
- It is to be with him, and he is to read
it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God
and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees
- and not consider himself better than his
brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his
descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.
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