| New International Version | NET Bible |
| 1Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him. | 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. |
| 2If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the LORD gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God in violation of 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 contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars in the sky, | 3by serving other gods and worshiping them--the sun, moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship. |
| 4and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved 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, |
| 5take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person 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. |
| 6On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only 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 hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you. | 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. |
| 8If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge--whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults--take them to the place 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. |
| 9Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. | 9You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict. |
| 10You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. | 10You must then do as they have determined at that place the LORD chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught. |
| 11Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right 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. |
| 12Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God is to be put to death. You must 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. |
| 13All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again. | 13Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again. |
| 14When you enter the land 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," | 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," |
| 15be sure to appoint over you a king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. | 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. |
| 16The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back 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. |
| 17He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. | 17Furthermore, he must not marry many wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold. |
| 18When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that 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. |
| 19It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees | 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. |
| 20and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom 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. |
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