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The Fifth Book of Moses: Called Deuteronomy, Chapter 17
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1 |
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.
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2 |
If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the
LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness
in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,
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3 |
And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the
sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not
commanded;
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4 |
And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and
enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain,
that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
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5 |
Then shalt thou bring
forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing,
unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with
stones, till they die.
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6 |
At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that
is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he
shall not be put to death.
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7 |
The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to
death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put
the evil away from among you.
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8 |
If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between
blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke,
being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise,
and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;
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9 |
And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the
judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew
thee the sentence of judgment:
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10 |
And thou shalt do according to
the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose
shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that
they inform thee:
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11 |
According to the sentence of the law which
they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall
tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence
which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.
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12 |
And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken
unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy
God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put
away the evil from Israel.
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13 |
And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more
presumptuously.
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14 |
When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth
thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I
will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;
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15 |
Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy
God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over
thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy
brother.
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16 |
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the
people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses:
forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return
no more that way.
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17 |
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn
not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and
gold.
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18 |
And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom,
that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which
is before the priests the Levites:
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19 |
And it shall be with him, and
he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to
fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these
statutes, to do them:
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20 |
That his heart be not lifted up above his
brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the
right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in
his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
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