Deuteronomy 17

You must not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has a defect or any serious flaw. Such a gift is disgusting to the LORD your God.

1Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

NoteAnimals brought for sacrifice had to be physically sound, no injury, disease, or deformity. A gift to God was expected to be the best of the flock or herd, not the animal a farmer could most easily spare. The King James "evilfavouredness" simply means ugly or malformed; it carries no moral sense. "Abomination" translates a Hebrew word (to'evah) meaning something offensive or repellent, often used of practices that violate the boundaries of Israel's worship.

2Suppose a man or a woman among you, in any of the towns the LORD your God is giving you, is found doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God by breaking his covenant.

2If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

NoteA covenant was a formal, binding agreement, like a treaty between a ruler and a subject people, with stated terms and stated penalties. Deuteronomy presents Israel's whole relationship with God in these legal terms, so "breaking his covenant" means violating the agreement's terms, not merely being unfaithful in feeling. The King James "within any of thy gates" means "in any of your towns": a walled town was identified by its gate.

3Suppose that person has gone and served other gods and bowed down to them, or to the sun, or the moon, or any of the stars in the sky, which I never commanded.

3And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

NoteThe sun, moon, and stars were worshiped as gods by Israel's neighbors in Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia. "The host of heaven" is a standard phrase for these heavenly bodies pictured as an army or royal court. The point of the list is that these were the ordinary, respectable religions of the surrounding world, not exotic practices.

4If you are told about it and hear the report, you must look into the matter carefully. If it is true and certain that such a disgusting thing has been done in Israel,

4And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

5then you must bring that man or that woman who did this evil thing out to your town gates, and you must stone that person to death.

5Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

NoteThe open space just inside a town's gate was where public business was done, markets, contracts, lawsuits, and judgments. Executions took place outside it, away from where people lived. Stoning was carried out by the community together rather than by an official executioner, so responsibility for the death was shared by everyone present.

6A person who deserves to die may be put to death only on the word of two or three witnesses. No one may be put to death on the word of a single witness.

6At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

NoteIsraelite courts had no police, no forensic evidence, and no written records of most events; a case rested entirely on the sworn word of witnesses. Requiring at least two independent witnesses was therefore the main protection against a person being executed on one enemy's accusation.

7The witnesses must be the first to raise their hands against the person to put him to death, and after that all the people join in. In this way you must remove the evil from among you.

7The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.

NoteMaking the witnesses throw the first stones tied them personally to the outcome of their testimony. If they had lied, they were the ones who had actually killed the accused, and elsewhere in Deuteronomy a proven false witness suffers the penalty the accused would have suffered.

8If a case in your towns is too hard for you to judge, whether it is about a killing, or a lawsuit, or an attack that injured someone, then you must go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.

8If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;

NoteThe King James phrases are Hebrew legal shorthand: "between blood and blood" means distinguishing one kind of killing from another, such as murder from accidental death; "plea and plea" means civil disputes over property or damages; "stroke and stroke" means cases of assault and injury. "The place the LORD your God shall choose" is Deuteronomy's recurring phrase for the single central sanctuary where Israel's worship was to be concentrated, the site is never named in the book, though later tradition identified it with Jerusalem.

9Go to the priests, who are Levites, and to the judge who is serving at that time. Ask them, and they will tell you the decision in the case.

9And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

NoteThe Levites were one of the tribes of Israel, set apart for religious duties rather than given farmland of their own. Priests were drawn from this tribe, and part of their work was giving rulings on disputed points of law. Alongside them sat a civil judge, so the central court combined religious and legal authority. What is described here is essentially a supreme court of appeal for cases local elders could not settle.

10You must act on the decision they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything exactly as they instruct you.

10And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:

11Do what they teach you from the law and what they decide in the case. Do not turn away from the decision they give you, either to the right or to the left.

11According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.

Note"Turning to the right hand or the left" is a standard Hebrew idiom for deviating from a road, and by extension from an instruction. It means do not depart from the ruling in any direction, not that right and left are two particular errors.

12Anyone who acts with open defiance and refuses to listen to the priest who stands and serves the LORD your God there, or to the judge, must be put to death. You must remove the evil from Israel.

12And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

NoteThe King James "presumptuously" translates a word meaning to act deliberately and defiantly, literally "with a high hand." Biblical law consistently distinguishes offenses committed in ignorance or by accident, which could be put right by sacrifice, from open, knowing defiance, which could not. The offense punished here is refusing to accept the court's authority, not simply losing the case.

13Then all the people will hear about it and be afraid, and no one will act with such defiance again.

13And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

14When you come into the land the LORD your God is giving you, and you take it over and settle in it, you may say, "Let us appoint a king over us, like all the nations around us."

14When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;

NoteIsrael at this point in the story has no king; it is a loose association of tribes led by elders and occasional temporary leaders. The demand for a king "like all the nations around me" is the request Israel actually makes generations later, in 1 Samuel 8. The law here neither commands a monarchy nor forbids one: it sets conditions in case the people ask for one.

15Then be sure to appoint over yourselves the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be one of your own people. You may not put a foreigner over you, someone who is not your fellow Israelite.

15Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

16But the king must not gather many horses for himself, and he must not send the people back to Egypt to get more horses. The LORD has told you, "You must never go back that way again."

16But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

NoteHorses in this period were military hardware: they pulled chariots, the most expensive and powerful weapon of the age. Egypt was the major source of them, and buying them meant sending gold, goods, or men south in trade, hence the warning about sending the people back to Egypt, the country Israel had just escaped from. The restriction limits the king's ability to build a standing army independent of the people.

17He must not take many wives for himself, or his heart will turn away. And he must not pile up large amounts of silver and gold for himself.

17Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

NoteRoyal marriages in the ancient Near East were largely diplomatic: a king married the daughters of neighboring rulers to seal treaties and alliances. Many wives therefore meant many foreign alliances, and with them the foreign gods those wives brought to court. The restriction is about the king's foreign entanglements and personal wealth as much as his private life.

18When he takes his seat on his royal throne, he must write out for himself a copy of this law on a scroll, copied from the one kept by the priests, who are Levites.

18And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

NoteA "book" here means a scroll, a long strip of leather or papyrus rolled up, the standard book form for centuries. The master copy of the law was kept by the priests, and the king was to write his own copy from it by hand, a slow process that meant reading every word. The Hebrew phrase for "copy of this law" was translated into Greek as deuteronomion, which is where the book's English name Deuteronomy comes from.

19That copy must stay with him, and he must read from it every day of his life. In that way he will learn to fear the LORD his God, and to keep and obey every word of this law and these rules.

19And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

Note"Fear" in this idiom means reverence and serious regard for someone's authority, the attitude of a subject before a ruler, rather than being frightened. The point of the daily reading is that the king is himself under the law, not above it.

20Then he will not think himself better than his fellow Israelites, and he will not turn away from the command, either to the right or to the left. Then he and his sons will rule many years in his kingdom in Israel.

20That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

Note"Prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children" is about dynasty, not personal lifespan alone: the reward described is that the king's descendants continue to reign after him.