Deuteronomy 17-23

New International Version

17 Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect^(A) or flaw in it, for that would be detestable^(B) to him.^(C)

² If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God in violation of his covenant,^{(D) 3} and contrary to my command^(E) has worshiped other gods,^(F) bowing down to them or to the sun^(G) or the moon or the stars in the sky,^{(H) 4} and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true^(I) and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,^{(J) 5} take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death.^{(K) 6} On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.^{(L) 7} The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death,^(M) and then the hands of all the people.^(N) You must purge the evil^(O) from among you.

Law Courts

⁸ If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge^(P)—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults^(Q)—take them to the place the Lord your God will choose.^{(R) 9} Go to the Levitical^(S) priests and to the judge^(T) who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.^{(U) 10} You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. ¹¹ Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.^{(V) 12} Anyone who shows contempt^(W) for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering^(X) there to the Lord your God is to be put to death.^(Y) You must purge the evil from Israel.^{(Z) 13} All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.^(AA)

The King

¹⁴ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession^(AB) of it and settled in it,^(AC) and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”^{(AD) 15} be sure to appoint^(AE) over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites.^(AF) Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. ¹⁶ The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses^(AG) for himself^(AH) or make the people return to Egypt^(AI) to get more of them,^(AJ) for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”^{(AK) 17} He must not take many wives,^(AL) or his heart will be led astray.^(AM) He must not accumulate^(AN) large amounts of silver and gold.^(AO)

¹⁸ When he takes the throne^(AP) of his kingdom, he is to write^(AQ) for himself on a scroll a copy^(AR) of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life^(AS) so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees^{(AT) 20} and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law^(AU) to the right or to the left.^(AV) Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.^(AW)

Offerings for Priests and Levites

18 The Levitical^(AX) priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings^(AY) presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance.^{(AZ) 2} They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^(BA) as he promised them.^(BB)

³ This is the share due the priests^(BC) from the people who sacrifice a bull^(BD) or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head.^{(BE) 4} You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,^{(BF) 5} for the Lord your God has chosen them^(BG) and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister^(BH) in the Lord’s name always.^(BI)

⁶ If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose,^{(BJ) 7} he may minister in the name^(BK) of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. ⁸ He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.^(BL)

Occult Practices

⁹ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate^(BM) the detestable ways^(BN) of the nations there. ¹⁰ Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire,^(BO) who practices divination^(BP) or sorcery,^(BQ) interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,^{(BR) 11} or casts spells,^(BS) or who is a medium or spiritist^(BT) or who consults the dead. ¹² Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.^{(BU) 13} You must be blameless^(BV) before the Lord your God.^(BW)

The Prophet

¹⁴ The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination.^(BX) But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. ¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.^(BY) You must listen to him. ¹⁶ For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”^(BZ)

¹⁷ The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet^(CA) like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words^(CB) in his mouth.^(CC) He will tell them everything I command him.^{(CD) 19} I myself will call to account^(CE) anyone who does not listen^(CF) to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.^{(CG) 20} But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods,^(CH) is to be put to death.”^(CI)

²¹ You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” ²² If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true,^(CJ) that is a message the Lord has not spoken.^(CK) That prophet has spoken presumptuously,^(CL) so do not be alarmed.

Cities of Refuge^(CM)

19 When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses,^{(CN) 2} then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³ Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.

⁴ This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. ⁵ For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood^(CO) might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. ⁷ This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

⁸ If the Lord your God enlarges your territory,^(CP) as he promised^(CQ) on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, ⁹ because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him^(CR)—then you are to set aside three more cities. ¹⁰ Do this so that innocent blood^(CS) will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.^(CT)

¹¹ But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor,^(CU) and then flees to one of these cities, ¹² the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. ¹³ Show no pity.^(CV) You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood,^(CW) so that it may go well with you.

¹⁴ Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.^(CX)

Witnesses

¹⁵ One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.^(CY)

¹⁶ If a malicious witness^(CZ) takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, ¹⁷ the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges^(DA) who are in office at the time. ¹⁸ The judges must make a thorough investigation,^(DB) and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, ¹⁹ then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party.^(DC) You must purge the evil from among you. ²⁰ The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid,^(DD) and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. ²¹ Show no pity:^(DE) life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.^(DF)

Going to War

20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours,^(DG) do not be afraid^(DH) of them,^(DI) because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with^(DJ) you. ² When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. ³ He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted^(DK) or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. ⁴ For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you^(DL) to fight^(DM) for you against your enemies to give you victory.^(DN)”

⁵ The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in^(DO) it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. ⁶ Has anyone planted^(DP) a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it?^(DQ) Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. ⁷ Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.^(DR)” ⁸ Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”^{(DS) 9} When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

¹⁰ When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.^{(DT) 11} If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject^(DU) to forced labor^(DV) and shall work for you. ¹² If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. ¹³ When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.^{(DW) 14} As for the women, the children, the livestock^(DX) and everything else in the city,^(DY) you may take these as plunder^(DZ) for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. ¹⁵ This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance^(EA) from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

¹⁶ However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.^{(EB) 17} Completely destroy^[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹⁸ Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods,^(EC) and you will sin^(ED) against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?^{[b] 20} However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees^(EE) and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

21 If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was,^{(EF) 2} your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. ³ Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke^{(EG) 4} and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. ⁵ The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings^(EH) in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault.^{(EI) 6} Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands^(EJ) over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, ⁷ and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. ⁸ Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for,^{(EK) 9} and you will have purged^(EL) from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Marrying a Captive Woman

¹⁰ When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands^(EM) and you take captives,^{(EN) 11} if you notice among the captives a beautiful^(EO) woman and are attracted to her,^(EP) you may take her as your wife. ¹² Bring her into your home and have her shave her head,^(EQ) trim her nails ¹³ and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month,^(ER) then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴ If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.^(ES)

The Right of the Firstborn

¹⁵ If a man has two wives,^(ET) and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love,^{(EU) 16} when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.^{(EV) 17} He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double^(EW) share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength.^(EX) The right of the firstborn belongs to him.^(EY)

A Rebellious Son

¹⁸ If someone has a stubborn and rebellious^(EZ) son^(FA) who does not obey his father and mother^(FB) and will not listen to them when they discipline him, ¹⁹ his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. ²⁰ They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” ²¹ Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death.^(FC) You must purge the evil^(FD) from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.^(FE)

Various Laws

²² If someone guilty of a capital offense^(FF) is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, ²³ you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight.^(FG) Be sure to bury^(FH) it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.^(FI) You must not desecrate^(FJ) the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

22 If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner.^{(FK) 2} If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back. ³ Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.

⁴ If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey^(FL) or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.^(FM)

⁵ A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

⁶ If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young.^{(FN) 7} You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go,^(FO) so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.^(FP)

⁸ When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.^(FQ)

⁹ Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard;^(FR) if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.^[c]

¹⁰ Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.^(FS)

¹¹ Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.^(FT)

¹² Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.^(FU)

Marriage Violations

¹³ If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her^(FV), dislikes her ¹⁴ and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,” ¹⁵ then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate^(FW) proof that she was a virgin. ¹⁶ Her father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. ¹⁷ Now he has slandered her and said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, ¹⁸ and the elders^(FX) shall take the man and punish him. ¹⁹ They shall fine him a hundred shekels^[d] of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰ If, however, the charge is true^(FY) and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, ²¹ she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing^(FZ) in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.

²² If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept^(GA) with her and the woman must die.^(GB) You must purge the evil from Israel.

²³ If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, ²⁴ you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.^(GC)

²⁵ But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. ²⁶ Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, ²⁷ for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed,^(GD) there was no one to rescue her.

²⁸ If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered,^{(GE) 29} he shall pay her father fifty shekels^[e] of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

³⁰ A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.^[f](GF)

Exclusion From the Assembly

23 ^[g]No one who has been emasculated^(GG) by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.

² No one born of a forbidden marriage^[h] nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.

³ No Ammonite^(GH) or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.^{(GI) 4} For they did not come to meet you with bread and water^(GJ) on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam^(GK) son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim^[i](GL) to pronounce a curse on you.^{(GM) 5} However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse^(GN) into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves^(GO) you. ⁶ Do not seek a treaty^(GP) of friendship with them as long as you live.^(GQ)

⁷ Do not despise an Edomite,^(GR) for the Edomites are related to you.^(GS) Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country.^{(GT) 8} The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Uncleanness in the Camp

⁹ When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure.^{(GU) 10} If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.^{(GV) 11} But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset^(GW) he may return to the camp.^(GX)

¹² Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. ¹³ As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ For the Lord your God moves^(GY) about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy,^(GZ) so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

¹⁵ If a slave has taken refuge^(HA) with you, do not hand them over to their master.^{(HB) 16} Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress^(HC) them.

¹⁷ No Israelite man^(HD) or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.^{(HE) 18} You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute^[j] into the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both.^(HF)

¹⁹ Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.^{(HG) 20} You may charge a foreigner^(HH) interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless^(HI) you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.

²¹ If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it,^(HJ) for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.^{(HK) 22} But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.^{(HL) 23} Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.

²⁴ If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. ²⁵ If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.^(HM)