CHAPTER 17
1 Thou shalt not offer to thy Lord God an ox and a sheep in which is a wem, either anything of vice/either anything of reproof, for it is abomination to thy Lord God. (Thou shalt not offer to the Lord thy God an ox or a sheep which hath a blemish, or a fault, for that is an abomination to the Lord thy God.)
2 And when a man either a woman, that do evil in the sight of thy Lord God, be found with thee, within one of thy gates which thy Lord God shall give to thee, and they break the covenant of God,
3 that they go and serve alien gods, and worship them, the sun, and the moon, and all the knighthood of heaven, which things I commanded not; (and go and serve foreign, or other, gods, and worship them, or the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which things I would never command;)
4 and this is told to thee, and thou hearest (of) it, and inquirest diligently, and thou findest that it is sooth, and that (such an) abomination is done in Israel;
5 thou shalt lead out the man and the woman, that did that most cursed thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be oppressed with stones (until they die). (thou shalt lead out the man, or the woman, who did this most cursed thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be killed with stones.)
6 He that shall be slain, shall perish in the mouth of twain, either of three witnesses; no man be slain, for one man saith witnessing against him. (He who shall be put to death, shall die only after the testimony of two, or three, witnesses; no one shall die because one person saith witnessing against them.)
7 The hand of the witnesses shall first slay him, and at the last the hand of the other people shall be put to, for to throw him down with stones, that thou do away evil from the midst of thee. (The hands of the witnesses shall be the first to stone them, and then the other people shall put their hands to it, and they shall throw their stones, so that thou do away evil from the midst of thee.)
8 If thou perceivest, that hard and doubtful doom is with thee, (or If thou perceivest, that there is a hard and difficult judgement before thee), betwixt blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and not leprosy, and thou seest that the words of [the] judges within thy gates be diverse in their deeming; rise thou, and go up to the place that thy Lord God hath chosen;
9 and thou shalt come to the priests of the kin of Levi, and to the judge that is in that time, and thou shalt ask of them, which shall show to thee the truth of [the] doom. (and thou shalt come to the levitical priests, and to the judge then in office, and thou shalt ask them, and they shall tell thee the correct judgement and sentence.)
10 And thou shalt do, whatever thing they say, that be sovereigns in the place which the Lord choose (or who be the rulers in the place which the Lord shall choose), and (who) teach thee by the law of the Lord;
11 thou shalt follow the sentence of them; thou shalt not bow therefrom to the right side, either to the left.
12 For that man shall die, that is proud, and will not obey to the behest of the priest, that ministereth in that time to thy Lord God, and to the sentence of the judge, and thou shalt do away evil from the midst of Israel; (And the person shall die, who is proud, and will not obey the decision of the priest, who ministereth at that time to the Lord thy God, or the sentence of the judge, and so thou shalt do away evil from the midst of Israel;)
13 and all the people shall hear, and dread, that no man from thenceforth swell with pride. (and all the people shall hear, and have fear, so that henceforth no one should swell with pride.)
14 When thou hast entered into the land, which thy Lord God shall give to thee, and wieldest it, and dwellest therein, and sayest, I shall ordain a king on me, as all nations by compass have, (or and sayest, We shall ordain a king over us, like all the nations around us have);
15 thou shalt ordain him, whom thy Lord God chooseth, (out) of the number of thy brethren. Thou shalt not be able to make king a man of another folk, which man is not thy brother, (or Thou shalt not ordain a man from another nation to be your king, yea, a man who is not thy brother, that is, thy kinsman).
16 And when the king is ordained, he shall not multiply horses to him(self), neither he shall lead again the people into Egypt, neither he shall be raised into pride, or tyranny, by the number of knights, mostly since the Lord commanded to you, that ye turn no more again by the same way. (And when the king is ordained, he shall not multiply horses unto himself, nor shall he lead the people back to Egypt, in order to add to his horses, for the Lord hath commanded that ye never go back there.)
17 The king shall not have many wives, that draw his mind to lusts, neither he shall have great weights of silver and of gold. (The king shall not have many wives, who would draw away his mind to lust, or too much fleshliness, nor shall he have great quantities of silver and gold.)
18 Forsooth after that he hath set in the throne of his realm, he shall write to himself, that is, shall make to be written, the deuteronomy, that is, declaration, of this law in a book, and he shall take (the) exemplar of (the) priests of the kin of Levi; (And after that he hath sat on the throne of his kingdom, he shall have written for himself the deuteronomy, or the declaration, of this law in a book, and his copy shall be made from the original held by the levitical priests;)
19 and he shall have it with him, and he shall read it in all the days of his life, that he learn to dread his Lord God, and to keep his words and his ceremonies, that be commanded in the law; (and he shall have it with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he can learn to fear the Lord his God or so that he can learn to revere the Lord his God, and obey all his words and his statutes, that be commanded in the law;)
20 neither his heart be raised into pride on his brethren, neither bow he into the right side, either left side, that he reign long time, he and his sons on Israel. (and then his heart shall not be raised up in pride above his brothers, or his kinsmen, nor shall he turn from these commandments to the right, or to the left, and then he and his sons shall reign a long time over Israel.)