Moses gives rules for dealing with idolatry and difficult legal cases. He gives instructions for a king, who must not multiply horses, wives or gold, and must write out and read the law.
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 .
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 ,
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 the LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD 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 .
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;
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 .
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 .
17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold .
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 :
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:
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 .