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Deuteronomy 17

1

Thou 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.

2

If 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,

3

And 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;

4

And 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:

5

Then 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.

6

At 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.

7

The 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.

8

If 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;

9

And 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:

10

And 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:

11

According 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.

1
12

And 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.

13

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

14

When 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;

15

Thou 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.

16

But 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.

17

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

1
18

And 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:

19

And 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:

20

That 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.

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Deuteronomy 17

The requirement that sacrifice animals be without defect establishes perfection as the standard for approaching the divine, a principle that will later be applied Christologically to the sinless sacrifice of Christ. The jurisdictional system where hard cases ascend to the central sanctuary for final judgment from priests and judges establishes a hierarchy of legal authority centered at the temple and prevents local corruption from determining justice. The law of the king (torah hammelek)—prohibiting multiplication of horses (Egypt's military power), wives (foreign alliances and idolatry), and silver and gold (economic excess)—attempts to limit royal power by subjecting it to torah; the requirement that the king write and read the torah daily and that his heart not be lifted above his brothers constitutes kingship as covenantal office subject to divine law. This chapter anticipates Israel's monarchy while binding it restrictively to torah, establishing a principle that no human authority supersedes covenant obligation.

Deuteronomy 17:1

You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has a defect or serious blemish, for that is abhorrent to the LORD your God — the demand for an unblemished victim reflects God's absolute holiness; only the best is worthy of approach to the divine, establishing that covenant demands our wholehearted devotion.

Deuteronomy 17:2

If there is found among you, in any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, and transgresses his covenant — the covenant framework makes every violation a matter of community concern, not merely individual sin, placing collective responsibility on the congregation.

Deuteronomy 17:3

By going to serve other gods and worshiping them — whether the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden — idolatry becomes the cardinal sin, the fundamental covenant breach that threatens Israel's entire relationship with YHWH, warranting the most severe communal response.

Deuteronomy 17:4

If you hear of it and make a thorough inquiry, and the charge is proved true that such an abhorrent thing has been done in Israel — the requirement for careful investigation (the dual occurrence of the deed confirmed through diligent examination) protects against hasty condemnation while ensuring that covenant violations receive serious attention.

Deuteronomy 17:5

Then you shall bring out to your gates that man or that woman who has committed this crime, and you shall stone them to death — the public, communal execution at the town gate symbolizes the entire community's repudiation of the covenant-breaker; the death removes the contamination from Israel's midst.

Deuteronomy 17:6

On the evidence of two or three witnesses the death penalty shall be executed; a person must not be put to death on the evidence of only one witness — the requirement of multiple witnesses provides crucial protection against false accusation and vendetta, elevating the standard of proof for capital crimes.

Deuteronomy 17:7

The hands of the witnesses shall be first against the person to put the death penalty into execution, and afterward the hands of all the people; so you shall purge the evil from your midst — the witnesses' direct participation in execution ensures they bear responsibility for their testimony, while communal participation transforms capital punishment into covenant maintenance.

Deuteronomy 17:8

If a case arises that is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of bloodguilt and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of injury and another — such disputed cases at the local level — you shall immediately go up to the place that the LORD your God will choose — the escalation of difficult cases to the central sanctuary establishes a hierarchy of judicial authority, with the high priest and Levitical judges serving as the ultimate interpretive authority.

Deuteronomy 17:9

You shall consult with the levitical priests and the judge who is in office in those days; they shall declare to you the decision in the case — the conjunction of priestly wisdom (embodying Torah memory and cultic knowledge) and judicial authority creates a hermeneutical body designed to interpret covenant law faithfully across generations.

Deuteronomy 17:10

You must comply with the decision that they declare to you from that place that the LORD will choose, diligently observing everything they instruct you — the binding force of the central sanctuary's ruling prevents legal fragmentation and ensures covenantal uniformity across Israel's dispersed territories.

Deuteronomy 17:11

You must not turn aside from the decision that they declare to you, either to the right or to the left — the biblical phrase neither right nor left (the Hebrew of seter and smol) becomes the idiom of absolute conformity to Torah interpretation, allowing no deviation, reinterpretation, or willful disobedience.

Deuteronomy 17:12

As for anyone who presumes to disobey the priest appointed to minister there to the LORD your God, or the judge — such a person shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel — contempt for the central authority's ruling is treated as capital rebellion, protecting the unified legal system from anarchic rejection.

Deuteronomy 17:13

All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again — the public execution of the rebellious person becomes deterrent pedagogy, teaching all Israel the consequences of covenant contempt through visible, communal witness.

Deuteronomy 17:14

When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me — Israel's desire for a king is presented as a future temptation, a moment when the nation will compare itself to surrounding monarchies and desire conventional political legitimacy rather than theocratic uniqueness.

Deuteronomy 17:15

You may indeed set over you a king whom the LORD your God will choose; one of your own community you shall set as king over you — the critical insertion whom the LORD your God will choose subordinates the monarchy to divine election; the king is not autonomous but covenantally appointed and accountable to God's will.

Deuteronomy 17:16

You are not permitted to put a horse over you, or send people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said to you, You shall never return that way again — the prohibition of amassing horses symbolizes rejection of military autonomy and trust in human strength, with Egypt representing the old reliance on human apparatus rather than divine protection.

Deuteronomy 17:17

And he must not acquire many wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself — this trilogy of prohibitions (horses, wives, wealth) seeks to prevent the king from accumulating the instrumentalities of independent power that would elevate him above accountability to Torah and fellow Israelites.

Deuteronomy 17:18

When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the levitical priests — the torah hammelek (the law of the king) requires the monarch to possess a personal scroll of Deuteronomy, making the written Torah the measure of royal authority rather than personal will or precedent.

Deuteronomy 17:19

It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes — the king's daily Torah reading transforms governance into a spiritual discipline, where covenantal obedience becomes the monarch's primary work, fundamentally different from Near Eastern kingship ideology.

Deuteronomy 17:20

Thus he and his descendants may reign long over the kingdom in Israel — the conditional promise of dynasty depends on the king's covenantal faithfulness; longevity belongs not to the ambitious or powerful but to those who subordinate themselves to the word of God, establishing a radically different calculus of political success.