Deuteronomy 17

²¹But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

⁸When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Hosts.

¹⁸You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the Lord your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the Lord your God.

⁴then the husband who divorced her first may not remarry her after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination to the Lord. You must not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

¹³You also say: ‘Oh, what a nuisance!’ And you turn up your nose at it,” says the Lord of Hosts. “You bring offerings that are stolen, lame, or sick! Should I accept these from your hands?” asks the Lord.

¹⁴“But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the Lord of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.

²⁰You must not present anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

²¹When a man presents a peace offering to the Lord from the herd or flock to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without blemish or defect to be acceptable.

²⁰So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed the covenant I laid down for their fathers and has not heeded My voice,

¹Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the Lord, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.

⁷But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.

¹²This happened because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God, but violated His covenant—all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded—and would neither listen nor obey.

¹⁶If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”

⁶If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known,

⁷the gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, whether from one end of the earth or the other),

³¹They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.

⁵They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even enter My mind.

²²For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,

²³but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.

²⁶if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

¹⁹When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

³⁵They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech—something I never commanded them, nor had it ever entered My mind, that they should commit such an abomination and cause Judah to sin.

¹²If, regarding one of the cities the Lord your God is giving you to inhabit, you hear it said

¹³that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),

⁵¹“Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?”

¹⁸The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,

²It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search it out.

¹⁴“Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have the whole assembly stone him.

²⁵“Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the Lord will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies.

¹⁶Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord must surely be put to death; the whole assembly must surely stone him, whether he is a foreign resident or native; if he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

¹⁰Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹¹Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

²⁴you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.

²¹she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.

²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

³⁰If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness.

¹⁵A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

¹⁶But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’

¹⁹Do not entertain an accusation against an elder, except on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

¹⁷Even in your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid.

¹⁸I am One who testifies about Myself, and the Father, who sent Me, also testifies about Me.”

⁹Instead, you must surely kill him. Your hand must be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

¹³God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

¹²But the man who acts presumptuously, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, or to the judge, must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.

⁵Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the Lord your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.

⁷If a man is caught kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. So you must purge the evil from among you.

⁵⁸They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

⁵Instead, you must seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.

¹¹“This is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘Ask the priests for a ruling.

¹⁷Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.”

²⁶And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but any minor issue they would judge themselves.

¹⁷both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.

⁸Moreover, Jehoshaphat appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites, priests, and heads of the Israelite families to judge on behalf of the Lord and to settle disputes. And they lived in Jerusalem.

⁹He commanded them, saying, “You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the Lord.

²⁴In any dispute, they shall officiate as judges and judge according to My ordinances. They must keep My laws and statutes regarding all My appointed feasts, and they must keep My Sabbaths holy.

⁷For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.

¹¹“This is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘Ask the priests for a ruling.

¹⁸Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”

¹⁷both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.

¹⁸The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,

²“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

³He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come.

⁷Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go.

¹⁰Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings.

¹⁹So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab behind all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say.

¹If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court to be judged, so that the innocent may be acquitted and the guilty condemned.

¹Remind the believers to submit to rulers and authorities, to be obedient and ready for every good work,

²⁷Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.

⁵Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the Lord your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.

³⁰But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord. That person shall be cut off from among his people.

⁸At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as they do to this day.

²⁶If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,

²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.

²⁰But those who persist in sin should be rebuked in front of everyone, so that the others will stand in fear of sin.

⁵For the Lord your God has chosen Levi and his sons out of all your tribes to stand and minister in His name for all time.

¹¹Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

²⁰Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.

³⁰But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord. That person shall be cut off from among his people.

³¹He shall certainly be cut off, because he has despised the word of the Lord and broken His commandment; his guilt remains on him.”

¹⁹Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.

²⁰Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.”

¹⁹They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.”

¹³“Remember what Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you when he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you rest, and He will give you this land.’

⁵“Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”

⁶But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord.

⁹And He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and settle in it,

²¹Their leader will be one of their own, and their ruler will arise from their midst. And I will bring him near, and he will approach Me, for who would dare on his own to approach Me?” declares the Lord.

¹⁰He is the one who will build a house for My Name. He will be My son, and I will be his Father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’

²⁴Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

¹²So Jesse sent for his youngest son and brought him in. He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him, for he is the one.”

¹³So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.

²³Now these are the numbers of men armed for battle who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, in accordance with the word of the Lord:

¹⁵Now on the day before Saul’s arrival, the Lord had revealed to Samuel,

¹⁶“At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you are to anoint him ruler over My people Israel; he will save them from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.”

¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the Lord.

²Yet He too is wise and brings disaster; He does not call back His words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers.

⁶⁸The Lord will return you to Egypt in ships by a route that I said you should never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

¹⁵But this king rebelled against Babylon by sending his envoys to Egypt to ask for horses and a large army. Will he flourish? Will the one who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and yet escape?’

⁵Will they not return to the land of Egypt and be ruled by Assyria because they refused to repent?

⁷Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

²⁶Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses.

²⁶Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.

⁸Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.

⁹Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.

⁵and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?

¹King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.

²These women were from the nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love.

¹⁰Place no trust in extortion or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

²⁴For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

¹⁵And Hilkiah said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord!” And he gave it to Shaphan.

¹²Then Jehoiada brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, presented him with the Testimony, and proclaimed him king. They anointed him, and the people clapped their hands and declared, “Long live the king!”

²⁴When Moses had finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end,

²⁵he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord:

⁸Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord!” And he gave it to Shaphan, who read it.

⁹So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.

⁸This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.

⁹⁷Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is my meditation.

⁹⁸Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are always with me.

²But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.

¹⁵From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

³⁹You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,

¹⁸Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

⁵For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not turned aside from anything the Lord commanded all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

³²So be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or to the left.

¹²For the Day of the Lord of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—

¹A song of ascents. Of David. My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me.

²Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

²⁰But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.

²¹He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes.

¹⁶But when Uzziah became powerful, his arrogance led to his own destruction. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, for he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.