Deuteronomy 17

1 No ox or sheep which has a mark on it or is damaged in any way may be offered to the Lord your God: for that is disgusting to the Lord your God.

Thou schalt not offre to thi Lord God an oxe and a scheep in which is a wem, ether ony thing of vice, for it is abhominacioun to thi Lord God.

2 If there is any man or woman among you, in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you, who does evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, sinning against his agreement,

And whanne a man ether a womman, that doon yuel in the siyte of thi Lord God, ben foundun at thee, with ynne oon of thi yatis whiche thi Lord God schal yyue to thee, and thei breken the couenaunt of God,

3 By becoming a servant of other gods and worshipping them or the sun or the moon or all the stars of heaven, against my orders;

that thei go and serue alien goddis, and worschipe hem, the sunne, and moone, and al the knyythod of heuene, whiche thingis Y comaundide not;

4 If word of this comes to your ears, then let this thing be looked into with care, and if there is no doubt that it is true, and such evil has been done in Israel;

and this is teld to thee, and thou herist, and `enquerist diligentli, and fyndist that it is soth, and abhomynacioun is doon in Israel;

5 Then you are to take the man or woman who has done the evil to the public place of your town, and they are to be stoned with stones till they are dead.

thou schalt lede out the man and the womman, that diden a moost cursid thing, to the yatis of thy citee, and thei schulen be oppressid with stoonus.

6 On the word of two or three witnesses, a man may be given the punishment of death; but he is not to be put to death on the word of one witness.

He that schal be slayn, schal perische in the mouth of tweyne, ethir of thre witnessis; no man be slayn, for o man seith witnessyng ayens hym.

7 The hands of the witnesses will be the first to put him to death, and after them the hands of all the people. So you are to put away the evil from among you.

The hond of witnessis schal first sle hym, and the last hond of the tothir puple schal be sent, that thou do awei yuel fro the myddis of thee.

8 If you are not able to give a decision as to who is responsible for a death, or who is right in a cause, or who gave the first blow in a fight, and there is a division of opinion about it in your town: then go to the place marked out by the Lord your God;

If thou perseyuest, that hard and douteful doom is at thee, bitwixe blood and blood, cause and cause, lepre and not lepre, and thou seest that the wordis of iugis with ynne thi yatis ben dyuerse; rise thou, and stie to the place which thi Lord God hath choose;

9 And come before the priests, the Levites, or before him who is judge at the time: and they will go into the question and give you a decision:

and thou schalt come to the preestis of the kyn of Leuy, and to the iuge which is in that tyme, and thou schalt axe of hem, whiche schulen schewe to thee the treuthe of doom.

10 And you are to be guided by the decision they give in the place named by the Lord, and do whatever they say:

And thou schalt do, what euer thing thei seien, that ben souereyns in the place which the Lord chees, and techen thee bi the lawe of the Lord;

11 Acting in agreement with their teaching and the decision they give: not turning to one side or the other from the word they have given you.

thou schalt sue the sentence of hem; thou schalt not bowe to the riyt side, ether to the lefte.

12 And any man who, in his pride, will not give ear to the priest whose place is there before the Lord your God, or to the judge, is to be put to death: you are to put away the evil from Israel.

Forsothe that man schal die, which is proud, and nyle obeie to the comaundement of the preest, `that mynystrith in that tyme to thi Lord God, and to the sentence of iuge, and thou schalt do awei yuel fro the myddis of Israel;

13 And all the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear and put away their pride.

and al the puple schal here, and drede, that no man fro thennus forth bolne with pride.

14 When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken it for a heritage and are living in it, if it is your desire to have a king over you, like the other nations round about you;

Whanne thou hast entrid in to the lond, which thi Lord God schal yyue to thee, and weldist it, and dwellist therynne, and seist, Y schal ordeyne a kyng on me, as alle naciouns `bi cumpas han;

15 Then see that you take as your king the man named by the Lord your God: let your king be one of your countrymen, not a man of another nation who is not one of yourselves.

thou schalt ordeyne hym, whom thi Lord God chesith of the noumbre of thi brethren. Thou schalt not mow make king a man of anothir folk, which man is not thi brother.

16 And he is not to get together a great army of horses for himself, or make the people go back to Egypt to get horses for him: because the Lord has said, You will never again go back that way.

And whanne the king is ordeyned, he schal not multiplie horsis to hym, nethir he schal lede ayen the puple in to Egipt, nethir he schal be reisid bi the noumbre of knyytis, moost sithen the Lord comaundide to you, that ye turne no more ayen bi the same weie.

17 And he is not to have a great number of wives, for fear that his heart may be turned away; or great wealth of silver and gold.

The kyng schal not haue ful many wyues, that drawen his soule `to ouer myche fleischlynesse, nether `he schal haue grete burthuns of siluer and of gold.

18 And when he has taken his place on the seat of his kingdom, he is to make in a book a copy of this law, from that which the priests, the Levites, have in their care:

Forsothe after that he hath sete in the trone of his rewme, he schal write to himsilf the deuteronomy of this lawe in a `volym ether book, and he schal take `a saumpler at preestis of `the kyn of Leuy;

19 And it is to be with him for his reading all the days of his life, so that he may be trained in the fear of the Lord his God to keep and do all the words of this teaching and these laws:

and he schal haue it with hym, and he schal rede it in alle the daies of his lijf, that he lerne to drede his Lord God, and to kepe hise wordis and cerymonyes, that ben comaundid in the lawe;

20 So that his heart may not be lifted up over his countrymen, and he may not be turned away from the orders, to one side or the other: but that his life and the lives of his children may be long in his kingdom in Israel.

nether his herte be reisid in to pride on hise brithren, nether bowe he in to the riyt side, ether left side, that he regne long tyme, he and hise sones on Israel.