Deuteronomy17
World English Bible · Public Domain
1You 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.
2If 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,
3and 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,
4and 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,
5then 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.
6At 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.
7The 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.
8If 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.
9You 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.
10You 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.
11According 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.
12The 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.
13All the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
14When 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,”
15you 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.
16Only 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.”
17He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
18It 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.
19It 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;
20that 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.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 17.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: All sacrifices to be perfect, Idolaters must be slain. (1–7). Difficult controversies. (8–13). The choice of a king, His duties. (14–20).
vv1-7
No creature which had any blemish was to be offered in sacrifice to God. We are thus called to remember the perfect, pure, and spotless sacrifice of Christ, and reminded to serve God with the best of our abilities, time, and possession, or our pretended obedience will be hateful to him. So great a punishment as death, so remarkable a death as stoning, must be inflicted on the Jewish idolater. Let all who in our day set up idols in their hearts, remember how God punished this crime in Israel.
vv8-13
Courts of judgment were to be set up in every city. Though their judgment had not the Divine authority of an oracle, it was the judgment of wise, prudent, experienced men, and had the advantage of a Divine promise.
vv14-20
God himself was in a particular manner Israel's King; and if they set another over them, it was necessary that he should choose the person. Accordingly, when the people desired a king, they applied to Samuel, a prophet of the Lord. In all cases, God's choice, if we can but know it, should direct, determine, and overrule ours. Laws are given for the prince that should be elected. He must carefully avoid every thing that would turn him from God and religion. Riches, honours, and pleasures, are three great hinderances of godliness, (the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life,) especially to those in high stations; against these the king is here warned. The king must carefully study the law of God, and make that his rule; and having a copy of the Scriptures of his own writing, must read therein all the days of his life. It is not enough to have Bibles, but we must use them, use them daily, as long as we live. Christ's scholars never learn above their Bibles, but will have constant occasion for them, till they come to that world where knowledge and love will be made perfect. The king's writing and reading were as nothing, if he did not practise what he wrote and read. And those who fear God and keep his commandments, will fare the better for it even in this world.
Key Words
לֹא: not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles
זָבַח: to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice)
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
שׁוֹר: a bullock (as a traveller)
שֶׂה: a member of a flock, i.e. a sheep or goat
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
מאוּם: to stain; a blemish (physically or morally)
רַע: bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)
כִּי: (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed
תּוֹעֵבַה: properly, something disgusting (morally), i.e. (as noun) an abhorrence; especially idolatry or (concretely) an idol
Cross References
Deuteronomy 17Solomon's historical violation of the prohibition against multiplying wives, which turned his heart away.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Detailed legal definitions of sacrificial blemishes rendering an animal unacceptable to God.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
New Testament citation of the two-or-three witnesses rule for capital covenant infractions.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Historical fulfillment of Israel demanding a king 'like all the nations,' rejecting God's direct rule.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin, JFB
Poetic reference to the ancient practice of worshipping the sun and moon.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The foundational law requiring multiple witnesses to establish any charge in Israel.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Jehoshaphat's establishment of a supreme court in Jerusalem to handle hard cases.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Solomon's accumulation of chariots and import of horses from Egypt in direct violation.
Supported by JFB
The coronation of Joash, where he is given 'the testimony' or copy of the law.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Prophetic rebuke of Israel offering blind, lame, and sick animals in violation of this law.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The requirement to search, inquire, and ask diligently regarding reports of apostasy.
Supported by Matthew Poole
God's active selection and confirmation of Saul as the first king.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Prophetic woe on those going down to Egypt for help and relying on horses.
Supported by JFB
The command to Joshua to meditate on the book of the law day and night.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The requirement that the Passover lamb be without blemish, foreshadowing Christ.
Supported by JFB