Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9

New King James Version

Justice Must Be Administered

¹⁸“You shall appoint ^(A)judges and officers in all your ^[a]gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. ¹⁹^(B)You shall not pervert justice; ^(C)you shall not ^[b]show partiality, ^(D)nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and ^[c]twists the words of the righteous. ²⁰You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may ^(E)live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

²¹^(F)“You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a ^[d]wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God. ²²^(G)You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.

Various Instructions

17 “You ^(H)shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any ^[e]blemish or defect, for that is an ^[f]abomination to the Lord your God.

²^(I)“If there is found among you, within any of your ^[g]gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, ^(J)in transgressing His covenant, ³who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either ^(K)the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, ^(L)which I have not commanded, ⁴^(M)and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an ^[h]abomination has been committed in Israel, ⁵then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and ^(N)shall stone ^(O)to death that man or woman with stones. ⁶Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three ^(P)witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. ⁷The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among ^(Q)you.

⁸^(R)“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the ^(S)place which the Lord your God chooses. ⁹And ^(T)you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and ^(U)to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; ^(V)they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. ¹⁰You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. ¹¹According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. ¹²Now ^(W)the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. ¹³^(X)And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.

Principles Governing Kings

¹⁴“When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ^(Y)‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵you shall surely set a king over you ^(Z)whom the Lord your God chooses; one ^(AA)from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. ¹⁶But he shall not multiply ^(AB)horses for himself, nor cause the people ^(AC)to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for ^(AD)the Lord has said to you, ^(AE)‘You shall not return that way again.’ ¹⁷Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and ^(AF)gold for himself.

¹⁸“Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one ^(AG)before the priests, the Levites. ¹⁹And ^(AH)it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, ²⁰that his heart may not ^[i]be lifted above his brethren, that he ^(AI)may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may ^[j]prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

The Portion of the Priests and Levites

18 “The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have ^[k]no part nor ^(AJ)inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His portion. ²Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He said to them.

³“And this shall be the priest’s ^(AK)due^[l] from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. ⁴^(AL)The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. ⁵For ^(AM)the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes ^(AN)to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.

⁶“So if a Levite comes from any of your ^[m]gates, from where he ^(AO)dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind ^(AP)to the place which the Lord chooses, ⁷then he may serve in the name of the Lord his God ^(AQ)as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the Lord. ⁸They shall have equal ^(AR)portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.

Avoid Wicked Customs

⁹“When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(AS)you shall not learn to follow the ^[n]abominations of those nations. ¹⁰There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter ^(AT)pass^[o] through the fire, ^(AU)or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ¹¹^(AV)or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or ^(AW)one who calls up the dead. ¹²For all who do these things are ^[p]an abomination to the Lord, and ^(AX)because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. ¹³You shall be ^[q]blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not ^[r]appointed such for you.

A New Prophet Like Moses

¹⁵^(AY)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, ¹⁶according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb ^(AZ)in the day of the assembly, saying, ^(BA)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

¹⁷“And the Lord said to me: ^(BB)‘What they have spoken is good. ¹⁸^(BC)I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and ^(BD)will put My words in His mouth, ^(BE)and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ¹⁹^(BF)And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. ²⁰But ^(BG)the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or ^(BH)who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ ²¹And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— ²²^(BI)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, ^(BJ)if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it ^(BK)presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Three Cities of Refuge^(BL)

19 “When the Lord your God ^(BM)has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, ²^(BN)you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴“And ^(BO)this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor ^[s]unintentionally, not having hated him in time past— ⁵as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; ⁶^(BP)lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. ⁷Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’

⁸“Now if the Lord your God ^(BQ)enlarges your territory, as He swore to ^(BR)your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, ⁹and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, ^(BS)then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, ¹⁰^(BT)lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

¹¹“But ^(BU)if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹²then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ¹³^(BV)Your eye shall not pity him, ^(BW)but you shall ^[t]put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Property Boundaries

¹⁴^(BX)“You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

The Law Concerning Witnesses

¹⁵^(BY)“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. ¹⁶If a false witness ^(BZ)rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, ¹⁷then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, ^(CA)before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. ¹⁸And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, ¹⁹^(CB)then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so ^(CC)you shall put away the evil from among you. ²⁰^(CD)And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. ²¹^(CE)Your eye shall not pity: ^(CF)life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Principles Governing Warfare

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see ^(CG)horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be ^(CH)afraid of them; for the Lord your God is ^(CI)with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. ²So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. ³And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; ⁴for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, ^(CJ)to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

⁵“Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not ^(CK)dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. ⁶Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. ⁷^(CL)And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’

⁸“The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ^(CM)‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, ^[u]lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ ⁹And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

¹⁰“When you go near a city to fight against it, ^(CN)then proclaim an offer of peace to it. ¹¹And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. ¹²Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, ^(CO)you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴But the women, the little ones, ^(CP)the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and ^(CQ)you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the Lord your God gives you. ¹⁵Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

¹⁶“But ^(CR)of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, ¹⁷but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, ¹⁸lest ^(CS)they teach you to do according to all their ^[v]abominations which they have done for their gods, and you ^(CT)sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹“When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food. ²⁰Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

The Law Concerning Unsolved Murder

21 “If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, ²then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities. ³And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer which has not been worked and which has not pulled with a ^(CU)yoke. ⁴The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. ⁵Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for ^(CV)the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; ^(CW)by their word every controversy and every ^[w]assault shall be settled. ⁶And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man ^(CX)shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. ⁷Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. ⁸Provide atonement, O Lord, for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, ^(CY)and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood. ⁹So ^(CZ)you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.