Deuteronomy 17
All 20 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.
Read Deuteronomy 17 in the Bible reader, with audio →
- 1Never sacrifice an ox or sheep to the LORD your God if it has any defect or flaw. That would be an abomination to the LORD your God.
- 2Suppose someone in one of the towns the LORD your God gives you — whether a man or a woman — does something the LORD your God considers evil by breaking his covenant.
- 3And has gone and served other gods, worshipping them, whether the sun, the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
- 4If someone reports this to you, take it seriously. Investigate the matter thoroughly. If it turns out to be true — if this abomination really has been committed in Israel —
- 5then bring that man or woman who did this evil thing to the gates of your town and stone them to death.
- 6A person can only be put to death on the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses. No one may be executed based on the word of just 1 witness.
- 7The witnesses must be the first to throw stones, and then the rest of the people will join in. In this way, you will purge the evil from among you.
- 8If a matter arises that is too difficult for you to judge, whether it is between one bloodshed and another, one legal claim and another, or one injury and another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall go to the place the LORD your God chooses.
- 9Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge serving at that time. Present your case, and they will give you their ruling.
- 10You must carry out whatever decision they hand down from the place the LORD chooses. Be careful to follow everything they instruct you to do.
- 11Follow the law they teach you and the verdict they announce. Don't deviate from their ruling in any way — not to the right or to the left.
- 12Anyone who arrogantly refuses to listen to the priest who serves there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, must be put to death. You must purge this evil from Israel.
- 13When everyone hears about it, they will fear and never act so arrogantly again.
- 14When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell there, and you say, 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations around me,'
- 15If you do, make sure you appoint the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be one of your own people — you must not place a foreigner over you who isn't one of your own.
- 16But he must not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, because the LORD has said to you, 'You shall not return that way again.'
- 17He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not pile up enormous amounts of silver and gold for himself.
- 18When he takes the throne, he must write out his own copy of this law on a scroll, copying it from the one kept by the Levitical priests.
- 19He must keep this copy with him and read from it every day of his life, so that he learns to fear the LORD his God and carefully obeys every word of this law and these regulations.
- 20This will keep him from thinking he's better than his fellow Israelites and from straying from the commandments in any direction. If he does this, he and his descendants will enjoy a long reign over Israel.