Deu 17 | NASB2020 | STEP | “ You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any defect , for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God .

Deuteronomy 17

Administration of Justice

1 “ ^aYou shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any ^{▼▼Lit bad thing}defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God.

2 “ ^cIf there is found in your midst, in any of your ^{▼▼Lit gates}towns 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, 3 and that person has gone and ^eserved other gods and worshiped them, ^for the sun, the moon, or any of the heavenly ^{▼▼Lit host}lights, ^hwhich I have commanded not to do, 4 and if it is reported to you and you have heard about it, then you shall investigate thoroughly. And ^{▼▼Lit behold, true}if it is true and the report is trustworthy that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 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 ^jyou shall stone them to ^{▼▼Lit death with stones}death. 6 ^lOn the ^{▼▼Lit mouth}testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, the ^{▼▼Lit one dying}condemned shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the ^{▼▼Lit mouth}testimony of only one witness. 7 ^pThe hands of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. ^qSo you shall eliminate the evil from your midst.

8 “ ^rIf a case is too difficult for you to decide, between ^{▼▼Lit blood to blood}one kind of homicide or another, between ^{▼▼Lit lawsuit to lawsuit}one kind of lawsuit or another, and between ^{▼▼Lit blow to blow}one kind of assault or another, that are cases of dispute in your ^{▼▼Lit gates}courts, then you shall arise and go up to ^wthe place which the Lord your God chooses. 9 So you shall come to ^xthe 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 ^{▼▼Lit word of decision}verdict. 10 Then you shall act in accordance with the ^{▼▼Lit mouth}terms 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. 11 ^aaIn accordance with the ^{▼▼Lit mouth}terms 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. 12 But the person who acts ^acinsolently 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. 13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act ^adinsolently again.

14 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you ^aetake possession of it and live in it, and you say, ‘ ^afI will appoint a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15 you shall in fact appoint a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One ^agfrom among your countrymen you shall appoint as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves, anyone who is not your countryman. 16 ^ahIn any case, he is not to acquire many horses for himself, nor shall he ^aimake the people return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since ^ajthe Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17 And ^akhe 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 ^{▼▼Lit from before
,} ^amin the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it ^anall the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear the Lord his God, ^{▼▼Lit to keep all...to do them,}by carefully following all the words of this Law and these statutes, 20 so that his heart will not be haughty toward his countrymen, ^apand that he will not turn away from the commandment to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may ^{▼▼Lit prolong days}live long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.