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Deuteronomy 17:1

in Deuteronomy 17

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.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Thou shalt not sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God an ox, or a sheep, wherein is a blemish, or anything evil; for that is an abomination unto Jehovah thy God.

KJV

Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God.

This verse in Deuteronomy 17

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
This verse belongs in subject to the last chapter. It prohibits once more (compare Deu 15:21) that form of insult to God which consists in offering to Him a blemished sacrifice. Any evil-favoredness - Render any evil thing. The reference is to the faults or maims enumerated in Lev 22:22-24.

This site's exposition

Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God

This rule belongs in subject with the altar material of the previous chapter, and Deuteronomy 15:21 had already forbidden the blemished offering. Leviticus 22:22-24 lists the faults meant, the blind, the broken, the maimed, the running sore. Malachi 1:8 charges a later generation with breaking this exact rule and asks whether their own governor would take such a gift. Matthew Henry reads the requirement through 1 Peter 1:19, where Christ is the lamb without blemish and without spot.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

God is the best of beings, and therefore whatsoever he is served with ought to be the best in its kind. And the Old-Testament sacrifices in a special manner must be so, because they were types of Christ, who is a Lamb without blemish or spot ( 1 Pet. i. 19 ), perfectly pure from all sin and all appearance of it.
Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock or sheep wherein is blemish,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Thou shalt not sacrifice . . . any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish--Under the name of bullock were comprehended bulls, cows, and calves; under that of sheep, rams, lambs, kids, he- and she-goats. An ox, from mutilation, was inadmissible. The qualifications required in animals destined for sacrifice are described (Ex 12:5;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Wherein is blemish - God must not have that offered to him which thou wouldst not use thyself. This not only refers to the perfect sacrifice offered by Christ Jesus, but to that sincerity and uprightness of heart which God requires in all those who approach him in the way of worship.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

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.
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Deuteronomy 17:1:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • לֹא־not

    lo'-H38085168 times

  • תִזְבַּח֩you will sacrifice

    tizbachH2076134 times

  • לַיהוָ֨הto Yahweh

    layahwehH30686520 times

  • אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָGod your

    ʾeloheikhaH4302601 times

  • שׁ֣וֹרan ox

    shorH779479 times

  • וָשֶׂ֗הand a sheep

    vasehH771647 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֨רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • יִהְיֶ֥הit will be

    yihyehH19613559 times

  • בוֹ֙in <the> it

    vo

  • מ֔וּםa blemish

    mumH397121 times

  • כֹּ֖לany

    kolH36055413 times

  • דָּבָ֣רthing

    davarH16971440 times

  • רָ֑עbad

    ra'H7451662 times

  • כִּ֧יfor

    kiH35884482 times

  • תוֹעֲבַ֛ת[is] [the] abomination of

    toavatH8441117 times

  • יְהוָ֥הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָGod your

    ʾeloheikhaH4302601 times

  • הֽוּא׃ סthat

    hu'H19311879 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Malachi 1:8

    When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present the lame and sick ones, is it not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased…

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 22:19–25

      must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for it to be accepted on your behalf.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Deuteronomy 15:21

      But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

    • Hosea 8:13

      Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to…

    • Jeremiah 14:10

      This is what the LORD says about this people: “Truly they love to wander; they have not restrained their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; He will now remember their guilt and…

    • Psalms 20:3

      May He remember all your gifts and look favorably on your burnt offerings. Selah

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 24:4

    then the husband who divorced her first may not remarry her after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination to the LORD. You must not bring sin upon the land that the…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 3:1

      “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with…

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 15:21

    But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

    it leads to

    • Malachi 1:7–8

      By presenting defiled food on My altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By saying that the table of the LORD is contemptible.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 23:18

    You 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.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 22:15

      But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Deuteronomy

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.