Deuteronomy:17-20

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* 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 . * 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 , * 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 ; * 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 : * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 ; * 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 : * 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 : * 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 . * 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 . * And all the people shall hear , and fear , and do no more presumptuously . * 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 ; * 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 . * 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 . * Neither shall he multiply wives to himself , that his heart turn not away : neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold . * 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 : * 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 : * 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 . * The priests the Levites , and all the tribe of Levi , shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel : they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire , and his inheritance . * Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren : the LORD is their inheritance , as he hath said unto them . * And this shall be the priest 's due from the people , from them that offer a sacrifice , whether it be ox or sheep ; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder , and the two cheeks , and the maw . * The firstfruit also of thy corn , of thy wine , and of thine oil , and the first of the fleece of thy sheep , shalt thou give him . * For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes , to stand to minister in the name of the LORD , him and his sons for ever . * And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel , where he sojourned , and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose ; * Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God , as all his brethren the Levites do , which stand there before the LORD . * They shall have like portions to eat , beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony . * When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee , thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations . * 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 , * Or a charmer , or a consulter with familiar spirits , or a wizard , or a necromancer . * For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD : and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee . * Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God . * 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 . * The LORD 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 ; * According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly , saying , Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God , neither let me see this great fire any more , that I die not . * And the LORD said unto me , They have well spoken that which they have spoken . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * And if thou say in thine heart , How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken ? * When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD , if the thing follow not , nor come to pass , that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken , but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously : thou shalt not be afraid of him . * When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations , whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee , and thou succeedest them , and dwellest in their cities , and in their houses ; * Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land , which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it . * Thou shalt prepare thee a way , and divide the coasts of thy land , which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit , into three parts , that every slayer may flee thither . * And this is the case of the slayer , which shall flee thither , that he may live : Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly , whom he hated not in time past ; * As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood , and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree , and the head slippeth from the helve , and lighteth upon his neighbour , that he die ; he shall flee unto one of those cities , and live : * Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer , while his heart is hot , and overtake him , because the way is long , and slay him ; whereas he was not worthy of death , inasmuch as he hated him not in time past . * Wherefore I command thee , saying , Thou shalt separate three cities for thee . * And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coast , as he hath sworn unto thy fathers , and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers ; * If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them , which I command thee this day , to love the LORD thy God , and to walk ever in his ways ; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee , beside these three : * That innocent blood be not shed in thy land , which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance , and so blood be upon thee . * But if any man hate his neighbour , and lie in wait for him , and rise up against him , and smite him mortally that he die , and fleeth into one of these cities : * Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence , and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood , that he may die . * Thine eye shall not pity him , but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel , that it may go well with thee . * Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour 's landmark , which they of old time have set in thine inheritance , which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it . * One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity , or for any sin , in any sin that he sinneth : at the mouth of two witnesses , or at the mouth of three witnesses , shall the matter be established . * If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong ; * Then both the men , between whom the controversy is , shall stand before the LORD , before the priests and the judges , which shall be in those days ; * And the judges shall make diligent inquisition : and , behold , if the witness be a false witness , and hath testified falsely against his brother ; * Then shall ye do unto him , as he had thought to have done unto his brother : so shalt thou put the evil away from among you . * And those which remain shall hear , and fear , and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you . * And thine eye shall not pity ; but life shall go for life , eye for eye , tooth for tooth , hand for hand , foot for foot . * When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies , and seest horses , and chariots , and a people more than thou , be not afraid of them : for the LORD thy God is with thee , which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt . * And it shall be , when ye are come nigh unto the battle , that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people , * And shall say unto them , Hear , O Israel , ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies : let not your hearts faint , fear not , and do not tremble , neither be ye terrified because of them ; * For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you , to fight for you against your enemies , to save you . * And the officers shall speak unto the people , saying , What man is there that hath built a new house , and hath not dedicated it ? let him go and return to his house , lest he die in the battle , and another man dedicate it . * And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard , and hath not yet eaten of it ? let him also go and return unto his house , lest he die in the battle , and another man eat of it . * And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife , and hath not taken her ? let him go and return unto his house , lest he die in the battle , and another man take her . * And the officers shall speak further unto the people , and they shall say , What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted ? let him go and return unto his house , lest his brethren 's heart faint as well as his heart . * And it shall be , when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people , that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people . * When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it , then proclaim peace unto it . * And it shall be , if it make thee answer of peace , and open unto thee , then it shall be , that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee , and they shall serve thee . * And if it will make no peace with thee , but will make war against thee , then thou shalt besiege it : * And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands , thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword : * But the women , and the little ones , and the cattle , and all that is in the city , even all the spoil thereof , shalt thou take unto thyself ; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies , which the LORD thy God hath given thee . * Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee , which are not of the cities of these nations . * But of the cities of these people , which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance , thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth : * But thou shalt utterly destroy them ; namely , the Hittites , and the Amorites , the Canaanites , and the Perizzites , the Hivites , and the Jebusites ; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee : * That they teach you not to do after all their abominations , which they have done unto their gods ; so should ye sin against the LORD your God . * When thou shalt besiege a city a long time , in making war against it to take it , thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them : for thou mayest eat of them , and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man 's life ) to employ them in the siege : * Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat , thou shalt destroy and cut them down ; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee , until it be subdued . * If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it , lying in the field , and it be not known who hath slain him :

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