17:1 You must not sacrifice to him⁵ a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other bad thing because that is considered disgraceful⁶ to the LORD your God. 17:2 If a man or woman be discovered from among you—in one of your villages⁷ that the LORD your God is giving you—who commits against him⁸ the evil of breaking his covenant 17:3 and going after and serving other gods and worshiping them—the sun,⁹ moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted¹⁰—17:4 and it be disclosed to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully; if indeed it is true that such a disgraceful thing¹¹ has been done in Israel, 17:5 you must summon¹² that man or woman who has done this wicked thing to your villages¹³—that very man or woman—and you must stone them to death.¹⁴ 17:6 At the testimony¹⁵ of two or three witnesses they must be executed. They cannot be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 17:7 The witnesses¹⁶ must be first to execute him and then all the people afterward. Thus you will purge evil from among you.

17:8 If a matter be too difficult for you to judge—bloodshed,¹⁷ legal claim,¹⁸ or assault¹⁹—, matters of controversy in your villages,²⁰ you must leave there²¹ and go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.²² 17:9 You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office²³ in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict.²⁴ 17:10 You must then do as they have determined²⁵ at that place that the LORD will choose. Be careful to do just as you are taught. 17:11 You must without fail do according to what²⁶ you are taught and the verdict they pronounce²⁷ to you. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you. 17:12 The person who pays no attention²⁸ to the priest currently serving²⁹ the LORD your God there or to the verdict, that person must die so that you might purge evil from Israel. 17:13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid and not be so presumptuous again.

17:14 When you come to the land the LORD your God is giving you and you take it over and live in it and then say, “I will appoint a king over me like all the nations surrounding me,” 17:15 you must without fail select over you a king whom the LORD your God will choose. From among your own kin you must appoint a king—you may not designate³⁰ a foreigner who is not one of your kin. 17:16 Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself nor allow the people to return to Egypt to do so,³¹ for the LORD has said, you must never again return this way. 17:17 He also must not marry many³² wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not amass much silver and gold. 17:18 When he sits on his royal throne³³ then he must make a copy of this instruction³⁴ upon a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests. 17:19 It must be constantly with him and he must read it as long as he lives so that he might learn to revere the LORD his God, and observe all the words of this instruction and these statutes in order to carry them out,³⁵ 17:20 so that he will not exalt himself³⁶ above his fellow citizens³⁷ and turn from the commandment right or left, and so that he might enjoy many years³⁸ over his kingdom,³⁹ he and his descendants, in the midst of Israel.