Deuteronomy 17:1-8

1 Thou shalt not sacrifice to the Lord thy God a calf or a sheep, in which there is a blemish, any evil thing; for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.

2 And if there should be found in any one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God gives thee, a man or a woman who shall do that which is evil before the Lord thy God, so as to transgress his covenant,

3 and they should go and serve other gods, and worship them, the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which he commanded thee not to do,

4 and it be told thee, and thou shalt have enquired diligently, and, behold, the thing really took place, this abomination has been done in Israel;

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;

Deuteronomy 17:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 17

This chapter begins with a caution not to sacrifice anything to the Lord that is blemished or ill favoured, De 17:1, an order is given to put to death men or women guilty of idolatry, where it is clearly proved upon them, De 17:2-7 and it is directed that when cases are too hard for inferior judges to determine, they should be brought to Jerusalem to the priests, Levites, and judges, which formed the great consistory there, whose sentence was to be adhered unto on pain of death, De 17:8-13, and rules are given about the choice of a king, and he is informed what he must not do, and what he should do, De 17:14-20.

Footnotes

• [a]. dies shall not die.
• [b]. blood between blood, etc.