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Deuteronomy

Deuteronomychapter 17

20 verses · BSBDeuteronomy book hub →

A.Two or three witnesses before a stoningvv. 1-7

1 You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep with any defect or serious flaw, for that is detestable to the LORD your God. 2 If a man or woman among you in one of the towns that the LORD your God gives you is found doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God by transgressing His covenant 3 and going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven—which I have forbidden— 4 and if it is reported and you hear about it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the report is true and such an abomination has happened in Israel, 5 you must bring out to your gates the man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you must stone that person to death. 6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but he shall not be executed on the testimony of a lone witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be the first in putting him to death, and after that, the hands of all the people. So you must purge the evil from among you.

B.Too hard for you? Go up to the place he choosesvv. 8-13

8 If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the LORD your God will choose. 9 You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Inquire of them, and they will give you a verdict in the case. 10 You must abide by the verdict they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you, 11 according to the terms of law they give and the verdict they proclaim. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left from the decision they declare to you. 12 But the man who acts presumptuously, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, or to the judge, must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. 13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will no longer behave arrogantly.

C.A king who copies out the law by handvv. 14-20

14 When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” 15 you are to appoint over yourselves the king whom the LORD your God shall choose. Appoint a king from among your brothers; you are not to set over yourselves a foreigner who is not one of your brothers. 16 But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’ 17 He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold. 18 When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by carefully observing all the words of this instruction and these statutes. 20 Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, and he will not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left, in order that he and his sons may reign many years over his kingdom in Israel.

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition
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Chapter summary

Courts and the king.

Read the rest, the context and the outline ▾

Courts and the king. Sentences not resolved in the gates shall come up to the priests and the judge at the central place. Their verdict binding. Should Israel ask for a king, three strictures: no multiplying horses (no return to Egypt); no multiplying wives (his heart turn not away); no multiplying silver and gold. The king shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the priests' original: ‘and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God’. The chapter anticipates the kingship of Israel's later centuries; every king is to be a covenant reader.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Law · Moses — Deuteronomy overview

  • A. 1–7 Two or three witnesses before a stoning
  • B. 8–13 Too hard for you? Go up to the place he chooses
  • C. 14–20 A king who copies out the law by hand
Top cross-references8 chapters ▾
  • Deuteronomy 134 verses
    • Deuteronomy 13:5Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.
    • Deuteronomy 13:9Instead, you must surely kill him. Your hand must be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.
    • Deuteronomy 13:11Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.
    • Deuteronomy 13:12If, regarding one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit, you hear it said
    • Read Deuteronomy 13 →
  • Joshua 13 verses
    • Joshua 1:7Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go.
    • Joshua 1:8This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.
    • Joshua 1:13“Remember what Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you when he said, ‘The LORD your God will give you rest, and He will give you this land.’
    • Read Joshua 1 →
  • Deuteronomy 192 verses
    • Deuteronomy 19:18The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,
    • Deuteronomy 19:20Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.
    • Read Deuteronomy 19 →
  • Leviticus 242 verses
    • Leviticus 24:14“Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have the whole assembly stone him.
    • Leviticus 24:16Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD must surely be put to death; the whole assembly must surely stone him, whether he is a foreign resident or native; if he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.
    • Read Leviticus 24 →
4 more chapters this one speaks with
  • Deuteronomy 172 verses
    • Deuteronomy 17:7The hands of the witnesses shall be the first in putting him to death, and after that, the hands of all the people. So you must purge the evil from among you.
    • Deuteronomy 17:12But the man who acts presumptuously, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, or to the judge, must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.
    • Read Deuteronomy 17 →
  • Haggai 21 verse
  • Deuteronomy 151 verse
  • Deuteronomy 231 verse
    • Deuteronomy 23:18You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.
    • Read Deuteronomy 23 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.