1 Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God a bull or sheep with a defect or any flaw, for that would be detestable to the LORD your God.

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 a man or woman in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you is found to have committed an evil act in the sight of the LORD your God, violating His covenant,

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 they go and worship other gods, bowing down to them, or to the sun, the moon, or the stars in the sky, which I have not commanded,

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 you are told about it and hear of it, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and confirmed that such a detestable act has been done in Israel,

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 take the man or woman who has committed this evil deed out to your city gates and stone that person to death.

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 On the testimony of two or three witnesses, the person will be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

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 must be the first to put the person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.

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 a case arises that is too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults—matters of dispute in your towns, you are to go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.

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 Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them, and they will give you the verdict.

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

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 Follow exactly the law they teach you and the judgment they declare to you. Do not turn aside from the decision they give you, to the right or to the left.

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.

12 Anyone who acts arrogantly and refuses to listen to the priest who stands to serve the LORD your God or the judge must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.

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 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never be arrogant again.

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

14 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and take possession of it and settle in it, and you say, 'Let us appoint a king over us, like all the nations around us,'

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 be sure to appoint a king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.

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 The king must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more horses, for the LORD has told you, 'You are not to go back that way again.'

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 He must not take many wives for himself, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

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

18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests.

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 It shall remain with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes to follow them.

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 In this way, his heart will not become proud above his fellow Israelites, and he will not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left. He and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

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.