- Deuteronomy
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17
1 Don't sacrifice to the Lord your God cattle or a sheep that has a defect or has something seriously wrong, for that is offensive to the Lord your God.
2 There may be a report that one of you, whether a man or a woman, living in a town that the Lord your God gave you, has been found to be sinning in the sight of the Lord your God by breaking the Lord's agreement. 3 This person has done this by going to worship other gods, bowing down to them—or to the sun, moon, or any of the stars of heaven—which I have ordered you not to do.
4 If you hear such a report, you need to make a full investigation. If you find out that the report is true, and that such an awful sin has been committed in Israel, 5 you must have the man or woman who has committed this terrible act taken outside the town and stoned to death. 6 That person is to be executed based on the evidence given by two or three witnesses. No one shall be executed on the evidence given by a single witness. 7 The witnesses must act first in executing the person, and then the rest of those who are present. You must eliminate the evil from among you.
8 If there's a case before your town court that is too problematic for you to settle, whether the argument is over murder or manslaughter, one legal decision against another, or different degrees of assault, you must take the issue to the place the Lord your God will choose. 9 Go to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge in charge. Present the case to them, and they will give you their decision. 10 You must abide by the decision they give you there at the place the Lord will choose. Make sure you do everything they tell you to do, 11 in accordance with the legal instructions they give you and the verdict they delivered. Don't deviate from the decision they give you. 12 Anyone who treats with contempt either the priest (who ministers before the Lord your God) or the judge, must be executed. You must eliminate this evil from Israel. 13 Then everyone else will hear about it and be afraid, and won't act with contempt in the future.
14 After you've entered the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken it over and settled in it, and you decide, “Let's have a king to rule over us like all the other nations around us do,” 15 you can have a king but only one chosen by the Lord your God. He must be an Israelite. You must not have a king who is a foreigner; someone who is not an Israelite. 16 Your king must not have large numbers of horses,*Horses were used to provide the king with cavalry to fight battles. or send his men to Egypt to buy more horses, because the Lord has declared, “You must never return there again.” 17 He must not have many wives, so they don't lead him away from following the Lord. He must not have large quantities of silver and gold. 18 Once he is king and sits on his royal throne, he must make a copy for himself of these instructions, writing them on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 He is to keep it with him, and he is to read from it each day throughout his life, so he may learn to respect the Lord his God by being careful to follow every word of these instructions and regulations. 20 Then he won't think more of himself than his fellow Israelites, and he won't deviate from the commandments, so that he and his sons may have long reigns over the kingdom of Israel.

- Deuteronomy
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*17:16 Horses were used to provide the king with cavalry to fight battles.

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher