Deuteronomy 16:18-18:13

New American Standard Bible

¹⁸“You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your ^[a]towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. ¹⁹^(A)You shall not distort justice, ^(B)you shall not ^[b]show partiality; and ^(C)you shall not accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous. ²⁰Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that ^(D)you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

²¹“^(E)You shall not plant for yourself an ^[c]Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself. ²²And ^(F)you shall not set up for yourself a memorial stone, which the Lord your God hates.

Administration of Justice

17 “^(G)You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any ^[d]defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God.

²“^(H)If there is found in your midst, in any of your ^[e]towns which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by violating His covenant, ³and that person has gone and ^(I)served other gods and worshiped them, ^(J)or the sun, the moon, or any of the heavenly ^[f]lights, ^(K)which I have commanded not to do, ⁴and if it is reported to you and you have heard about it, then you shall investigate thoroughly. And ^[g]if it is true and the report is trustworthy that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, ⁵then you are to bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil deed, that is, the man or the woman, and ^(L)you shall stone them to ^[h]death. ⁶^(M)On the ^[i]testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, the ^[j]condemned shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the ^[k]testimony of only one witness. ⁷^(N)The hands of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. ^(O)So you shall eliminate the evil from your midst.

⁸“^(P)If a case is too difficult for you to decide, between ^[l]one kind of homicide or another, between ^[m]one kind of lawsuit or another, and between ^[n]one kind of assault or another, that are cases of dispute in your ^[o]courts, then you shall arise and go up to ^(Q)the place which the Lord your God chooses. ⁹So you shall come to ^(R)the Levitical priests or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the ^[p]verdict. ¹⁰Then you shall act in accordance with the ^[q]terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be careful to act in accordance with everything that they instruct you to do. ¹¹^(S)In accordance with the ^[r]terms of the law about which they instruct you, and in accordance with the verdict which they tell you, you shall act; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. ¹²But the person who acts ^(T)insolently by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to the judge, that person shall die; so you shall eliminate the evil from Israel. ¹³Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act ^(U)insolently again.

¹⁴“When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you ^(V)take possession of it and live in it, and you say, ‘^(W)I will appoint a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ ¹⁵you shall in fact appoint a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One ^(X)from among your countrymen you shall appoint as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves, anyone who is not your countryman. ¹⁶^(Y)In any case, he is not to acquire many horses for himself, nor shall he ^(Z)make the people return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since ^(AA)the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ ¹⁷And ^(AB)he shall not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

¹⁸“Now it shall come about, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Law on a scroll ^[s]^(AC)in the presence of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹And it shall be with him, and he shall read it ^(AD)all the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear the Lord his God, ^[t]by carefully following all the words of this Law and these statutes, ²⁰so that his heart will not be haughty toward his countrymen, ^(AE)and that he will not turn away from the commandment to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may ^[u]live long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

Portion for the Levites

18 “^(AF)The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall not have a portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His ^[v]property. ²^(AG)They shall not have an inheritance among their countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He ^[w]promised them.

³“^(AH)Now this shall be the priests’ portion from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep: they shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. ⁴You shall give him the ^(AI)first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep. ⁵^(AJ)For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to ^(AK)stand to serve in the name of the Lord always.

⁶“Now if a Levite comes from any of your ^[x]towns throughout Israel where he ^(AL)resides, and he comes ^[y]whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses, ⁷then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. ⁸^(AM)They shall eat ^[z]equal portions, except for what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.

Spiritism Forbidden

⁹“When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to ^[aa]^(AN)imitate the detestable things of those nations. ¹⁰There shall not be found among you anyone ^(AO)who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, a ^(AP)soothsayer, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ¹¹or one who casts a spell, ^(AQ)or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who consults the dead. ¹²For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and ^(AR)because of these detestable things the Lord your God is going to drive them out before you. ¹³^(AS)You are to be blameless before the Lord your God.