Deuteronomy 17: Witnesses, hard cases, and the law for a king
A free study, verse by verse. Text: World English Bible. Notes come from the Hebrew. How to read a study
What happens?
Moses tells Israel not to sacrifice an animal with a defect. A man or woman found serving other gods, once the matter is carefully looked into, is to be stoned, but only on the word of two or three witnesses, never one. Cases too hard for the local judges are to be taken to the priests and the judge at the place Yahweh chooses, and their decision must be followed. If Israel wants a king like the nations, he must be the one Yahweh chooses, an Israelite, and he must not gather many horses, wives, or silver and gold; he is to write a copy of this law and read it all his life.
Who is speaking?
Moses speaks the whole chapter to Israel. In verse 14 he gives the words the people might say when they ask for a king, and in verse 16 he tells them what Yahweh has said to them. No verse is in gold. God's own words are printed in gold, and those verses are marked God speaks
1You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or a sheep in which is a defect or anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
In plain English: Do not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or a sheep that has a defect or anything wrong with it, because that is disgusting (this Bible: an abomination) to Yahweh your God.
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2If there is found among you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, a man or woman who does that which is evil in Yahweh your God’s sight in transgressing his covenant,
In plain English: Suppose there is found among you, in one of the towns Yahweh your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God by breaking his covenant,
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3and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the stars of the sky, which I have not commanded,
In plain English: who has gone and served other gods and bowed down to them, or to the sun or the moon or any of the stars of the sky, which I have not commanded,
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4and you are told, and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel,
In plain English: and you are told of it and hear about it. Then you are to look into it carefully. If it is true and certain that this disgusting thing has been done in Israel,
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5then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil thing to your gates, even that same man or woman; and you shall stone them to death with stones.
In plain English: bring out to your town gates the man or the woman who has done this evil thing, that same man or woman, and stone them with stones until they die.
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6At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
In plain English: The one who is to die is to be put to death on the word (literally: at the mouth) of two or three witnesses. No one is to be put to death on the word of one witness.
Good to know: gives the same rule for a killing: "one witness shall not testify alone". The words "at the mouth of two or three witnesses" are used again in and , and looks back on this law.
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7The hands of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
In plain English: The hands of the witnesses are to be the first against him to put him to death, and after that the hands of all the people. So you are to remove the evil from among you.
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8If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses.
In plain English: If a case comes up in your towns that is too hard for you to judge, between one bloodshed and another (literally: between blood and blood), between one claim and another, or between one injury and another, matters of dispute in your towns, then get up and go up to the place Yahweh your God will choose.
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9You shall come to the priests who are Levites and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict.
In plain English: Go to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who is in office at that time. Ask them, and they will tell you the decision.
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10You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which Yahweh chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you.
In plain English: Do what they tell you (literally: by the mouth of the word they tell you) from that place Yahweh will choose. Be careful to do all that they teach you.
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11According to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they announce to you, to the right hand, nor to the left.
In plain English: Do what the law (or: the teaching) they teach you says, and the decision they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.
The Hebrew word: "Law" is torah, which the dictionary gives as "a precept or statute". It is related to the word yarah, which the dictionary gives as "to point out (as if by aiming the finger), to teach": the word for "teach" in this verse and in verse 10.
How it is translated: In Deuteronomy this Bible says "law" in all 22 verses that use torah.
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12The man who does presumptuously in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel.
In plain English: The man who acts proudly (this Bible: presumptuously) and will not listen to the priest who stands there to serve Yahweh your God, or to the judge, that man is to die. So you are to remove the evil from Israel.
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13All the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
In plain English: Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act proudly again.
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14When you have come to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,”
In plain English: When you have come into the land Yahweh your God is giving you, and you own it and live in it, and you say, "I will set a king over me, like all the nations around me,"
Good to know: Later the people ask Samuel, "make us a king to judge us like all the nations" (), nearly the words of this verse. There Yahweh tells Samuel, "they have rejected me as the king over them" ().
Church tradition: Readers differ on whether this law commands Israel to have a king or only allows one when the people ask for it. Jewish and Christian teachers have argued both ways. The text says what the king must and must not do, if Israel sets one up.
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15you shall surely set him whom Yahweh your God chooses as king over yourselves. You shall set as king over you one from among your brothers. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
In plain English: you are to set over yourselves the king Yahweh your God chooses. Set as king over you one of your own brothers. You may not put over you a foreigner who is not your brother.
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16Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because Yahweh has said to you, “You shall not go back that way again.”
In plain English: But he must not get many horses for himself, or make the people go back to Egypt to get more horses, because Yahweh has said to you, "You are never to go back that way again."
Good to know: Moses does not say when Yahweh said "You shall not go back that way again". speaks of the way "of which I told you that you would never see it again".
Good to know: Later the text records that Solomon's horses "were brought out of Egypt" (), that he "made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem" (), and that he had seven hundred wives, and "his wives turned his heart away" ().
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17He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
In plain English: He must not take many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away. He must not get for himself great amounts of silver and gold.
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18It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the Levitical priests.
In plain English: When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself a copy of this law in a book (or: on a scroll), from what is before the priests, the Levites.
The Hebrew words: "A copy of this law" is mishneh ha-torah. Mishneh is the word the dictionary gives as "a repetition, i.e. a duplicate (copy of a document)" (see the note on ).
Good to know: The name Deuteronomy comes from the old Greek translation of the Bible (the Septuagint), which says here "this repetition of the law"; its Greek word means "second law". The Hebrew can mean a copy of the law, or a repeating of it.
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19It shall be with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them;
In plain English: It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God and keep all the words of this law and these statutes, and do them.
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20that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn away from the commandment to the right hand, or to the left, to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the middle of Israel.
In plain English: Then his heart will not be lifted up above his brothers, and he will not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left. So he and his children may reign for a long time over his kingdom in Israel.
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