| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1“You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God. | 1You must not sacrifice to him a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive to the LORD your God. |
| 2“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant, | 2Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you--in one of your villages that the LORD your God is giving you--who sins before the Lord your God and breaks his covenant |
| 3and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, | 3by serving other gods and worshiping them--the sun, moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship. |
| 4and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, | 4When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done in Israel, |
| 5then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. | 5you must bring to your city gates that man or woman who has done this wicked thing--that very man or woman--and you must stone that person to death. |
| 6On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. | 6At the testimony of two or three witnesses they must be executed. They cannot be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. |
| 7The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. | 7The witnesses must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you. |
| 8“If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the LORD your God will choose. | 8If a matter is too difficult for you to judge--bloodshed, legal claim, or assault--matters of controversy in your villages--you must leave there and go up to the place the LORD your God chooses. |
| 9And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision. | 9You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict. |
| 10Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the LORD will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. | 10You must then do as they have determined at that place the LORD chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught. |
| 11According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. | 11You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you. |
| 12The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. | 12The person who pays no attention to the priest currently serving the LORD your God there, or to the verdict--that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel. |
| 13And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again. | 13Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again. |
| 14“When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ | 14When you come to the land the LORD your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, "I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me," |
| 15you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. | 15you must select without fail a king whom the LORD your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens you must appoint a king--you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites. |
| 16Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ | 16Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, for the LORD has said you must never again return that way. |
| 17And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. | 17Furthermore, he must not marry many wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold. |
| 18“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. | 18When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law on a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests. |
| 19And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, | 19It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. |
| 20that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. | 20Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel. |
|
