Deuteronomy 17

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 'To Yahweh your God you must sacrifice nothing from herd or flock that has any blemish or defectwhatsoever, for Yahweh your God holds this detestable.	1 "You shall not sacrifice to the LORD, your God, from the herd or from the flock an animal with any serious defect; that would be an abomination to the LORD, your God.
2 'If there is anyone, man or woman, among you in any of the towns given you by Yahweh your God,who does what is wrong in the eyes of Yahweh your God by violating his covenant,	2 "If there is found among you, in any one of the communities which the LORD, your God, gives you, a man or a woman who does evil in the sight of the LORD, your God, and transgresses his covenant,
3 who goes and serves other gods and worships them, or the sun or the moon or any of heaven's array-- a thing I have forbidden-	3 by serving other gods, or by worshiping the sun or the moon or any of the host of the sky, against my command;
4 and this person is denounced to you: if after careful enquiry it is found true and confirmed that thishateful thing has been done in Israel,	4 and if, on being informed of it, you find by careful investigation that it is true and an established fact that this abomination has been committed in Israel:
5 you must take the man or woman guilty of this evil deed outside your city gates, and there you muststone that man or woman to death.	5 you shall bring the man (or woman) who has done the evil deed out to your city gates and stone him to death.
6 A death sentence may be passed only on the word of two witnesses or three; and no one must be putto death on the word of one witness alone.	6 The testimony of two or three witnesses is required for putting a person to death; no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
7 The witnesses' hands must strike the first blow in putting the condemned to death, the rest of thepeople fol owing. You must banish this evil from among you.	7 At the execution, the witnesses are to be the first to raise their hands against him; afterward all the people are to join in. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.
8 'If a case comes before you which is too difficult for you, a case of murder, conflicting claims, damageto property -- any kind of dispute -- in your towns, you must make your way to the place chosen by Yahweh yourGod,	8 "If in your own community there is a case at issue which proves too complicated for you to decide, in a matter of bloodshed or of civil rights or of personal injury, you shall then go up to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses,
9 and approach the levitical priests and the judge then in office. They will hold an enquiry and let youknow their sentence.	9 to the levitical priests or to the judge who is in office at that time. They shall study the case and then hand down to you their decision.
10 You must abide by the verdict which they give you in this place chosen by Yahweh, and you wil takecare to carry out al their instructions.	10 According to this decision that they give you in the place which the LORD chooses, you shall act, being careful to do exactly as they direct.
11 You wil abide by the decision which they give you and by the sentence which they pronounce, notdeviating to right or to left from the verdict which they have given you.	11 You shall carry out the directions they give you and the verdict they pronounce for you, without turning aside to the right or to the left from the decision they hand down to you.
12 If anyone presumes to disobey either the priest who is there in the service of Yahweh your God, orthe judge, that person must die. You must banish this evil from Israel.	12 Any man who has the insolence to refuse to listen to the priest who officiates there in the ministry of the LORD, your God, or to the judge, shall die. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.
13 And when the people hear of this they will al be afraid and not act presumptuously any more.	13 And all the people, on hearing of it, shall fear, and never again be so insolent.
14 'If, having reached the country given by Yahweh your God and having taken possession of it and,while living there, you think, "I should like to appoint a king to rule me -- like al the surrounding nations,"	14 "When you have come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, and have occupied it and settled in it, should you then decide to have a king over you like all the surrounding nations,
15 the king whom you appoint to rule you must be chosen by Yahweh your God; the appointment of aking must be made from your own brothers; on no account must you appoint as king some foreigner who is not abrother of yours.	15 you shall set that man over you as your king whom the LORD, your God, chooses. He whom you set over you as king must be your kinsman; a foreigner, who is no kin of yours, you may not set over you.
16 'He must not, however, acquire more and more horses, or send the people back to Egypt with a viewto increasing his cavalry, since Yahweh has told you, "You must never go back that way again."	16 But he shall not have a great number of horses; nor shall he make his people go back again to Egypt to acquire them, against the LORD'S warning that you must never go back that way again.
17 Nor must he keep on acquiring more and more wives, for that could lead his heart astray. Nor musthe acquire vast quantities of silver and gold.	17 Neither shall he have a great number of wives, lest his heart be estranged, nor shall he accumulate a vast amount of silver and gold.
18 Once seated on his royal throne, and for his own use, he must write a copy of this Law on a scrol , atthe dictation of the levitical priests.	18 When he is enthroned in his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law made from the scroll that is in the custody of the levitical priests.
19 It must never leave him, and he must read it every day of his life and learn to fear Yahweh his Godby keeping al the words of this Law and observing these rules,	19 He shall keep it with him and read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the LORD, his God, and to heed and fulfill all the words of this law and these statutes.
20 so that he wil not think himself superior to his brothers, and not deviate from these commandmentseither to right or to left. So doing, long will he occupy his throne, he and his sons, in Israel.'	20 Let him not become estranged from his countrymen through pride, nor turn aside to the right or to the left from these commandments. Then he and his descendants will enjoy a long reign in Israel.