Deuteronomy 18:

10. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

11. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

12. For all that do these things are an abomination unto יְהֹוָה and because of these abominations יְהֹוָה thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

13. Thou shalt be perfect with יְהֹוָה thy God.

14. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

15. יְהֹוָה thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

16. According to all that thou desiredst of יְהֹוָה thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of יְהֹוָה my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

17. And יְהֹוָה said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

18. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

19. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20. But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

21. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which יְהֹוָה hath not spoken?

22. When a prophet speaketh in the name of יְהֹוָה if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which יְהֹוָה hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Deuteronomy 17:

2. If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which יְהֹוָה thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of יְהֹוָה thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

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;

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:

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.

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.

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.

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 יְהֹוָה thy God shall choose;

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:

10. And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which יְהֹוָה shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:

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.

12. And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before יְהֹוָה thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

13. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

Contemporary English

Deuteronomy 17:

Sacrifices That Have Something Wrong with Them

Moses said to Israel:

1 If an ox or a sheep has something wrong with it, don't offer it as a sacrifice to the Lord your God—he will be disgusted!

Put To Death People Who Worship Idols

Moses said to Israel:

^2-3  The Lord your God is giving you towns to live in. But later, a man or a woman in your town may start worshiping other gods, or even the sun, moon, or stars.^[a] I have warned you not to worship other gods, because whoever worships them is disobeying the Lord and breaking the agreement he made with you. ⁴ So when you hear that someone in your town is committing this disgusting sin, you must carefully find out if that person really is guilty. ^5-7  But you will need two or three witnesses—one witness isn't enough to prove a person guilty.

Get rid of those who are guilty of such evil. Take them outside your town gates and everyone must stone them to death. But the witnesses must be the first to throw stones.

Difficult Cases

Moses said to Israel:

^8-12 It may be difficult to find out the truth in some legal cases in your town. You may not be able to decide if someone was killed accidentally or murdered. Or you may not be able to tell whether an injury or some property damage was done by accident or on purpose. If the case is too difficult, take it to the court at the place where the Lord your God chooses to be worshiped.

This court will be made up of one judge and several priests^[b] who serve at the Lord's altar. They will explain the law to you and give you their decision about the case. Do exactly what they tell you, or you will be put to death. ¹³ When other Israelites hear about it, they will be afraid and obey the decisions of the court.

The King

Moses said:

¹⁴  People of Israel, after you capture the land the Lord your God is giving you, and after you settle on it, you will say, “We want a king, just like the nations around us.”

¹⁵ Go ahead and appoint a king, but make sure that he is an Israelite and that he is the one the Lord has chosen.

¹⁶  The king should not have many horses, especially those from Egypt. The Lord has said never to go back there again. ¹⁷  And the king must not have a lot of wives—they might tempt him to be unfaithful to the Lord.^[c] Finally, the king must not try to get huge amounts of silver and gold.

¹⁸ The official copy of God's laws^[d] will be kept by the priests of the Levi tribe. So, as soon as anyone becomes king, he must go to the priests and write out a copy of these laws while they watch. ¹⁹ Each day the king must read and obey these laws, so that he will learn to worship the Lord with fear and trembling ²⁰ and not think that he's better than everyone else.

If the king completely obeys the Lord's commands, he and his descendants will rule Israel for many years.

Footnotes:

1. 17.2,3 sun, moon, or stars: Some people thought these were gods and worshiped them.
2. 17.8-12 several priests: The Hebrew text has “the priests, the Levites”; priests belonged to the Levi tribe.
3. 17.17 a lot of wives … unfaithful to the Lord: A king would often marry the daughter of another king that he was making a treaty with. These foreign women would naturally want to worship their own gods, and would want their husband the king to do so as well.
4. 17.18 God's laws: Or “God's laws for the king.”