Deuteronomy 17–19

17Thou ^ashalt 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.

^2bIf 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, ^cin transgressing his covenant, ³And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either ^dthe sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, ^ewhich I have not commanded; ⁴And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired ^fdiligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 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 ^gshalt stone them with stones, till they die. ^6hAt 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. ⁷ⁱThe hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So ^kthou shalt put the evil away from among you.

^8lIf there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, ^lbetween 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 ^minto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; ⁹And thou shalt come unto ^lthe priests the Levites, and unto ^lthe judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; ⁿand they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: 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: 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. ¹²And the man that ^owill do presumptuously, ^†and will not hearken unto the priest ^pthat standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and ^qthou shalt put away the evil from Israel. ¹³And all the people ^rshall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

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, ^sI will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; ¹⁵Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, ^twhom the Lord thy God shall choose: one ^ufrom among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. ¹⁶But he shall not multiply ^xhorses to himself, nor cause the people ^yto return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, ^zYe shall henceforth return no more that way. ¹⁷Neither ^ashall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. ^18bAnd 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 ^cbefore ^dthe priests the Levites: ¹⁹And ^eit shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that ^fhe may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: ²⁰That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he ^gturn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: ^hto the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

18The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, ^ashall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they ^bshall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his inheritance. ²Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the Lord is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. ³And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and ^cthey shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. ^4dThe firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him. ⁵For the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, ^eto stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever. ⁶And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, ^fwhere he sojourned, and come ^gwith all the desire of his mind ^hunto the place which the Lord shall choose; ⁷Then he ^eshall minister in the name of the Lord his God, ⁱas all his brethren the Levites do, ^ewhich stand there before the Lord. ⁸They shall have like ^kportions to eat, beside ^†that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.

⁹When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, ^lthou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. ¹⁰There shall not be found among you any one ^mthat maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or ⁿthat useth divination, or ^oan observer of times, or ^pan enchanter, or ^qa witch, ¹¹Or ^ra charmer, or a consulter with ^sfamiliar spirits, or ^sa wizard, or ^ta necromancer. ¹²For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and ^ubecause of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. ¹³Thou shalt be ^||perfect with the Lord thy God. ¹⁴For these nations, which thou shalt ^||possess, hearkened unto ^oobservers of times, and unto ⁿdiviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

^15wThe Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; ¹⁶According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb ^xin the day of the assembly, saying, ^yLet me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. ¹⁷And the Lord said unto me, ^zThey have well spoken that which they have spoken. ^18aI will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and ^bwill put my words in his mouth; and ^che shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. ^19dAnd it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. ²⁰But the prophet, which ^eshall presume ^fto speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or ^gthat shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. ²¹And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? ^22hWhen a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it ⁱpresumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

19When ^athe Lord thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou ^†succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses; ^2bThou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. ³Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither. ⁴And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: ^cWhoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not ^†in time past; ⁵As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the ^†head slippeth from the ^†helve, and ^†lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: ⁶Lest ^dthe avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ^†slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not ^†in time past. ⁷Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee. ^8eAnd if the Lord thy God ^eenlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and ^fgive thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers; ⁹If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; ^gthen shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three: ¹⁰That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. ¹¹But ^hif any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him ^†mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities: ¹²Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ¹³ⁱThine eye shall not pity him, ^jbut thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.

^14kThou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. ¹⁵One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: ^lat the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. ¹⁶If ^ma false witness rise up against any man to testify against him ^||that which is wrong; ¹⁷Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, ⁿbefore the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; ¹⁸And the judges shall make ^odiligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; ^19pThen shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so ^qshalt…