Deuteronomychapter 17
20 verses · BSBDeuteronomy book hub →
Original Language
Deuteronomy 17— Hebrew word study · with the Hebrew tradition
In Jewish life
Jewish practice and Jewish teaching both have something to say about Deuteronomy 17. Three things follow: where it is read, what is done because of it, and how the rabbis have taught it. The purpose is to inform a Christian reader what Jews believe and how Judaism was and is practised.
The reading
Weekly portion 48 of 54
שֹׁפְטִים Shoftim, Deuteronomy 16:18 to 21:9
Read with it: Isaiah 51:12 to 52:12.
The verse numbers here are the ones a Hebrew Bible carries, which differ from an English Bible by a verse or two in several places. The Sephardi reading is named only where this site records a difference; communities vary beyond what is listed. What these books are, and how a Christian reader meets them →
Where the rabbis cite this chapter
3 rows sit beside their verses in the text, on 3 verses of this chapter. No row that speaks to the chapter as a whole is recorded. Every quote links to its full source.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria (sefaria.org); excerpts follow each version’s license, and every passage opens at its source.
How to read a word below: the Hebrewword, then how it sounds, then what it means, then its number in Strong’s concordance, a widely used lookup this site follows (H for Hebrew and Aramaic, G for Greek). Square brackets hold a word the English supplies that the Hebrew does not, angle brackets mark the Hebrew’s own grammatical elements that English renders as separate words, and the mark ס or פ is where the Hebrew manuscripts end a paragraph.
Two or three witnesses before a stoning1
Deuteronomy 17:1· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Ramban on Deuteronomy 17:1
THOU SHALT NOT SACRIFICE UNTO THE ETERNAL THY G-D [AN OX, OR A SHEEP, WHEREIN IS A BLEMISH], EVEN ANY ‘DAVAR’ (THING) THAT IS EVIL. “This is an admonition against causing offerings to be rendered unfit through an improper utterance.
Read it in full at Sefaria · Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Deuteronomy 17:2· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:3· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:4· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:5· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:6· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:7· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Too hard for you? Go up to the place he chooses8
Deuteronomy 17:8· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:9· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:10· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:11· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:12· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:13· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
A king who copies out the law by hand14
Deuteronomy 17:14· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Ramban on Deuteronomy 17:14
‘I WILL SET A KING OVER ME.’ In the opinion of our Rabbis. Sanhedrin 20b.
Read it in full at Sefaria · Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Deuteronomy 17:15· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Ramban on Deuteronomy 17:15
THOU SHALT BY ALL MEANS SET HIM KING OVER THEE, WHOM THE ETERNAL THY G-D SHALL CHOOSE. In the opinion of the commentators. Ibn Ezra in the verse before us.
Read it in full at Sefaria · Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Deuteronomy 17:16· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:17· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:18· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:19· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible
Deuteronomy 17:20· Hebrew and glosses: STEP Bible