| New American Standard Bible 1995 | NET Bible |
| 1"You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any defect, for that is a detestable thing 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 in your midst, in any of your towns, which the LORD your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, by 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 heavenly host, which I have not commanded, | 3by serving other gods and worshiping them--the sun, moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship. |
| 4and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing 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 that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death. | 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. |
| 6"On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he 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. |
| 7"The 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 is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses. | 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. |
| 9"So you shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. | 9You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict. |
| 10"You shall do according to the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the LORD chooses; and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they teach you. | 10You must then do as they have determined at that place the LORD chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught. |
| 11"According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or 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. |
| 12"The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, nor to the judge, that man shall die; thus 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. |
| 13"Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again. | 13Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again. |
| 14"When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who 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 shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. | 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. |
| 16"Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.' | 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. |
| 17"He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. | 17Furthermore, he must not marry many wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold. |
| 18"Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of 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. |
| 19"It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, | 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 countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of 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. |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. //netbible.com. Used by permission. All rights reserved. |
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