Deuteronomy 17-18

Complete Jewish Bible

17 “You are not to sacrifice to Adonai your God a cow or sheep that has a defect or anything wrong with it; that would be an abomination to Adonai your God.

² “If there is found among you, within any of your gates [in any city] that Adonai your God gives you, a man or woman who does what Adonai your God sees as wicked, transgressing his covenant ³ by going and serving other gods and worshipping them, the sun, the moon, or anything in the sky — something I have forbidden — ⁴ and it is told to you, or you hear about it; then you are to investigate the matter diligently. If it is true, if it is confirmed that such detestable things are being done in Isra’el; ⁵ then you are to bring the man or woman who has done this wicked thing to your city gates, and stone that man or woman to death. ⁶ The death sentence is to be carried out only if there was testimony from two or three witnesses; he may not be sentenced to death on the testimony of only one witness. ⁷ The witnesses are to be the first to stone him to death; afterwards, all the people are to stone him. Thus you will put an end to this wickedness among you.

⁸ “If a case comes before you at your city gate which is too difficult for you to judge, concerning bloodshed, civil suit, personal injury or any other controversial issue; you are to get up, go to the place which Adonai your God will choose, ⁹ and appear before the cohanim, who are L’vi’im, and the judge in office at the time. Seek their opinion, and they will render a verdict for you. ¹⁰ You will then act according to what they have told you there in that place which Adonai will choose; you are to take care to act according to all their instructions. ¹¹ In accordance with the Torah they teach you, you are to carry out the judgment they render, not turning aside to the right or the left from the verdict they declare to you. ¹² Anyone presumptuous enough not to pay attention to the cohen appointed there to serve Adonai your God or to the judge — that person must die. Thus you will exterminate such wickedness from Isra’el — ¹³ all the people will hear about it and be afraid to continue acting presumptuously.

(ii) ¹⁴ “When you have entered the land Adonai your God is giving you, have taken possession of it and are living there, you may say, ‘I want to have a king over me, like all the other nations around me.’ ¹⁵ In that event, you must appoint as king the one whom Adonai your God will choose. He must be one of your kinsmen, this king you appoint over you — you are forbidden to appoint a foreigner over you who is not your kinsman. ¹⁶ However, he is not to acquire many horses for himself or have the people return to Egypt to obtain more horses, inasmuch as Adonai told you never to go back that way again. ¹⁷ Likewise, he is not to acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart will not turn away; and he is not to acquire excessive quantities of silver and gold.

¹⁸ “When he has come to occupy the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy of this Torah for himself in a scroll, from the one the cohanim and L’vi’im use. ¹⁹ It is to remain with him, and he is to read in it every day, as long as he lives; so that he will learn to fear Adonai his God and keep all the words of this Torah and these laws and obey them; ²⁰ so that he will not think he is better than his kinsmen; and so that he will not turn aside either to the right or to the left from the mitzvah. In this way he will prolong his own reign and that of his children in Isra’el.

18 (iii) The cohanim, who are L’vi’im, and indeed the whole tribe of Levi, is not to have a share or an inheritance with Isra’el. Instead, their support will come from the food offered by fire to Adonai and from whatever else becomes his. ² They will have no inheritance with their brothers, because Adonai is their inheritance — as he has said to them.

³ “The cohanim will have the right to receive from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether ox or sheep, the shoulder, the jowls and the stomach. ⁴ You will also give him the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep. ⁵ For Adonai your God has chosen him from all your tribes to stand and serve in the name of Adonai, him and his sons forever.

(iv) ⁶ “If a Levi from one of your towns anywhere in Isra’el where he is living comes, highly motivated, to the place which Adonai will choose, ⁷ then he will serve there in the name of Adonai his God, just like his kinsmen the L’vi’im who stand and serve in the presence of Adonai. ⁸ Such a Levi will receive the same share as they do, in addition to what he may receive from selling his inherited ancestral property.

⁹ “When you enter the land Adonai your God is giving you, you are not to learn how to follow the abominable practices of those nations. ¹⁰ There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through fire, a diviner, a soothsayer, an enchanter, a sorcerer, ¹¹ a spell-caster, a consulter of ghosts or spirits, or a necromancer. ¹² For whoever does these things is detestable to Adonai, and because of these abominations Adonai your God is driving them out ahead of you. ¹³ You must be wholehearted with Adonai your God. (v) ¹⁴ For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and diviners; but you, Adonai your God does not allow you to do this.

¹⁵ “Adonai will raise up for you a prophet like me from among yourselves, from your own kinsmen. You are to pay attention to him, ¹⁶ just as when you were assembled at Horev and requested Adonai your God, ‘Don’t let me hear the voice of Adonai my God any more, or let me see this great fire ever again; if I do, I will die!’ ¹⁷ On that occasion Adonai said to me, ‘They are right in what they are saying. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I order him. ¹⁹ Whoever doesn’t listen to my words, which he will speak in my name, will have to account for himself to me.

²⁰ “‘But if a prophet presumptuously speaks a word in my name which I didn’t order him to say, or if he speaks in the name of other gods, then that prophet must die.’ ²¹ You may be wondering, ‘How are we to know if a word has not been spoken by Adonai?’ ²² When a prophet speaks in the name of Adonai, and the prediction does not come true — that is, the word is not fulfilled — then Adonai did not speak that word. The prophet who said it spoke presumptuously; you have nothing to fear from him.