Deuteronomy 17–19

17“You must not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or sheep with a defect or any serious flaw, for that is detestable to the Lord your God. ^c

The Judicial Procedure for Idolatry

²“If ^da man or woman among you in one of your towns that the Lord your God will give you is discovered doing evil in the sight of the Lord your God and violating His covenant ^e3and has gone to worship other gods ^fby bowing down to the sun, moon, or all the stars in the sky ^g—which I have forbidden— ⁴and if you are told or hear about it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the report turns out to be true that this detestable thing has happened in Israel, ⁵you must bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing and stone them to death. ^h6The one condemned to die is to be executed on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ⁱNo one is to be executed on the testimony of a single witness. ⁷The witnesses’ hands are to be the first in putting him to death, and after that, the hands of all the people. ^jYou must purge the evil from you. ^k

Difficult Cases

⁸“If a case is too difficult for you—concerning bloodshed, ^llawsuits, ^mor assaults ⁿ—cases disputed at your gates, ^oyou must go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ⁹You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Ask, and they will give you a verdict in the case. ¹⁰You must abide by the verdict they give you at the place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do exactly as they instruct you. ¹¹You must abide by the instruction they give you and the verdict they announce to you. Do not turn to the right or the left from the decision they declare to you. ¹²The person who acts arrogantly, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there serving the Lord your God or to the judge, must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. ¹³Then all the people will hear about it, be afraid, and no longer behave arrogantly.

Appointing a King

¹⁴“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, ^ptake possession of it, live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,’ ¹⁵you are to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. ^qAppoint a king from your brothers. You are not to set a foreigner over you, or one who is not of your people. ^r16However, he must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’ ^s17He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray. ^tHe must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself. ^u18When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear ^vthe Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes. ²⁰Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, he will not turn from this command to the right or the left, and he and his sons will continue ruling many years ^wover Israel.

Provisions for the Levites

18“The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They will eat the Lord’s fire offerings; that is their ^xyinheritance. ²Although Levi has no inheritance among his brothers, the Lord is his inheritance, as He promised him. ^z3This is the priests’ share from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether it is an ox, a sheep, or a goat; the priests are to be given the shoulder, jaws, and stomach. ⁴You are to give him the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, ^aand the first sheared wool of your flock. ⁵For Yahweh your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes to stand and minister in His name from now on. ^b6When a Levite leaves one of your towns where he lives in Israel and wants to go to the place the Lord chooses, ⁷he may serve in the name of Yahweh his God like all his fellow Levites who minister there in the presence of the Lord. ⁸They will eat equal portions besides what he has received from the sale of the family estate. ^cd

Occult Practices versus Prophetic Revelation

⁹“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations. ^e10No one among you is to make his son or daughter pass through the fire, ^fgpractice divination, tell fortunes, interpret omens, practice sorcery, ¹¹cast spells, consult a medium or a familiar spirit, or inquire of the dead. ^h12Everyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you because of these detestable things. ¹³You must be blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴Though these nations you are about to drive out listen to fortune-tellers and diviners, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do this.

¹⁵“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. ⁱYou must listen to him. ¹⁶This is what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this great fire any longer, so that we will not die!’ ^j17Then the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. ¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. ¹⁹I will hold accountable whoever does not listen to My words that he speaks in My name. ^k20But the prophet who dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.’ ²¹You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a message the Lord has not spoken?’ ²²When a prophet speaks in the Lord’s name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

Cities of Refuge

19“When the Lord your God annihilates the nations whose land He is giving you, ^lso that you drive them out and live in their cities and houses, ²you are to set apart three cities for yourselves within the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ^m3You are to determine the distances ⁿand divide the land the Lord your God is granting you as an inheritance into three regions, so that anyone who commits manslaughter can flee to these cities. ^o

⁴“Here is the law concerning a case of someone who kills a person and flees there to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him: ⁵If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings the ax to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, that person may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶Otherwise, the avenger of blood in the heat of his anger ^pmight pursue the one who committed manslaughter, overtake him because the distance is great, and strike him dead. Yet he did not deserve to die, ^qsince he did not previously hate his neighbor. ⁷This is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves. ⁸If the Lord your God enlarges your territory as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised to give them— ⁹provided you keep every one of these commands I am giving you today and follow them, loving the Lord your God and walking in His ways at all times—you are to add three more cities to these three. ¹⁰In this way, innocent blood will not be shed, and you will not become guilty of bloodshed in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. ^r11But if someone hates his neighbor, lies in ambush for him, attacks him, and strikes him fatally, and flees to one of these cities, ¹²the elders of his city must send for him, take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood and he will die. ¹³You must not look on him with pity but purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, and you will prosper.

Boundary Markers

¹⁴“You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, ^sestablished at the start in the inheritance you will receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

Witnesses in Court

¹⁵“One witness cannot establish any wrongdoing or sin against a person, whatever that person has done. ^tA fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. ^u

¹⁶“If a malicious witness ^vtestifies against someone accusing him of a crime, ¹⁷the two people in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and judges in authority at that time. ¹⁸The judges are to make a careful investigation, and if the witness turns out to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, ¹⁹you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from you. ²⁰Then everyone else will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything evil like this among you. ^w21You must not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot. ^x