Deuteronomy 17:7

7 And the hand of the witnesses shall be upon him among the first to put him to death, and the hand of the people at the last; so shalt thou remove the evil one from among yourselves.

Deuteronomy 17:7 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 17:7

The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him
to death
Of everyone of them, as Aben Ezra; they were to cast the first stone at him, which would be a further trial and confirmation of their testimony; for if they readily and without reluctance first began the stoning of the idolater, it would not only show their zeal for the honour of the divine Being, but an unconsciousness of guilt in their testimony, and be an encouragement to others to proceed with safety:

and afterwards the hands of all the people;
should be employed in taking up stones, and casting at him until he was dead:

so thou shall put the evil away from among you;
both the evil man and the evil committed by him, which by this means would be prevented from spreading, seeing by his death others would be deterred from following his example; as well as the evil of punishment, which otherwise would have come upon the nation, had they connived at so gross an iniquity.

Deuteronomy 17:7 In-Context

5 then shalt thou bring out that man, or that woman, and ye shall stone them with stones, and they shall die.

6 He shall die on the testimony of two or three witnesses; a man who is put to death shall not be put to death for one witness.

7 And the hand of the witnesses shall be upon him among the first to put him to death, and the hand of the people at the last; so shalt thou remove the evil one from among yourselves.

8 And if a matter shall be too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, and between cause and cause, and between stroke and stroke, and between contradiction and contradiction, matters of judgment in your cities;

9 then thou shalt arise and go up to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and thou shalt come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days, and they shall search out and report the judgment to thee.