Deuteronomy 17

1 You 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.

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 If 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,

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 and 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,

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 and 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,

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 then 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.

you must have the man or woman who has committed this terrible act taken outside the town and stoned to death.

6 At 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 You 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.

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 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.

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 According 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 accordance with the legal instructions they give you and the verdict they delivered. Don't deviate from the decision they give you.

12 The 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.

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 All the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

Then everyone else will hear about it and be afraid, and won't act with contempt in the future.

14 When 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,”

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 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.

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 Only 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.”

Your king must not have large numbers of horses, or send his men to Egypt to buy more horses, because the Lord has declared, “You must never to return there again.”

17 He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

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 It 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.

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 It 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;

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 that 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.

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.