17:10. And thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the place, which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee,
17:11. According to his law; and thou shalt follow their sentence: neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand.
17:12. But he that will be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment of the priest, who ministereth at that time to the Lord thy G.o.d, and the decree of the judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the evil from Israel:
17:13. And all the people hearing it shall fear, that no one afterwards swell with pride.
17:14. When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy G.o.d will give thee, and possessest it, and shalt say: I will set a king over me, as all nations have that are round about:
17:15. Thou shalt set him whom the Lord thy G.o.d shall choose out of the number of thy brethren. Thou mayst not make a man of another nation king, that is not thy brother.
17:16. And when he is made king, he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor lead back the people into Egypt, being lifted up with the number of his hors.e.m.e.n, especially since the Lord hath commanded you to return no more the same way.
17:17. He shall not have many wives, that may allure his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold.
17:18. But after he is raised to the throne of his kingdom, he shall copy out to himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a volume, taking the copy of the priests of the Levitical tribe,
17:19. And he shall have it with him, and shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his G.o.d, and keep his words and ceremonies, that are commanded in the law;
17:20. And that his heart be not lifted up with pride over his brethren, nor decline to the right or to the left, that he and his sons may reign a long time over Israel.
Deuteronomy Chapter 18
The Lord is the inheritance of the priests and Levites. Heathenish abominations are to be avoided. The great PROPHET CHRIST is promised.
False prophets must be slain.
18:1. The priests and Levites, and all that are of the same tribe, shall have no part nor inheritance with the rest of Israel, because they shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord, and his oblations,
18:2. And they shall receive nothing else of the possession of their brethren: for the Lord himself is their inheritance, as he hath said to them.
18:3. This shall be the priest"s due from the people, and from them that offer victims: whether they sacrifice an ox, or a sheep, they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the breast:
18:4. The firstfruits also of corn, of wine, and of oil, and a part of the wool from the shearing of their sheep.
18:5. For the Lord thy G.o.d hath chosen him of all thy tribes, to stand and to minister to the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever.
18:6. If a Levite go out of any one of the cities throughout all Israel, in which he dwelleth, and have a longing mind to come to the place which the Lord shall choose,
18:7. He shall minister in the name of the Lord his G.o.d, as all his brethren the Levites do, that shall stand at that time before the Lord.
18:8. He shall receive the same portion of food that the rest do: besides that which is due to him in his own city, by succession from his fathers.
18:9. When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy G.o.d shall give thee, beware lest thou have a mind to imitate the abominations of those nations.
18:10. Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pa.s.s through the fire: or that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, neither let there be any wizard,
18:11. Nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead.
18:12. For the Lord abhorreth all these things, and for these abominations he will destroy them at thy coming.
18:13. Thou shalt be perfect, and without spot before the Lord thy G.o.d.
18:14. These nations, whose land thou shalt possess, hearken to soothsayers and diviners: but thou art otherwise instructed by the Lord thy G.o.d.
18:15. The Lord thy G.o.d will raise up to thee a PROPHET of thy nation and of thy brethren like unto me: him thou shalt hear:
18:16. As thou desiredst of the Lord thy G.o.d in h.o.r.eb, when the a.s.sembly was gathered together, and saidst: Let me not hear any more the voice of the Lord my G.o.d, neither let me see any more this exceeding great fire, lest I die.
18:17. And the Lord said to me: They have spoken all things well.
18:18. I will raise them up a prophet out of the midst of their brethren like to thee: and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.
18:19. And he that will not hear his words, which he shall speak in my name, I will be the revenger.
18:20. But the prophet, who being corrupted with pride, shall speak in my name things that I did not command him to say, or in the name of strange G.o.ds, shall be slain.
18:21. And if in silent thought thou answer: How shall I know the word that the Lord hath not spoken?
18:22. Thou shalt have this sign: Whatsoever that same prophet foretelleth in the name of the Lord, and it cometh not to pa.s.s: that thing the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath forged it by the pride of his mind: and therefore thou shalt not fear him.
Deuteronomy Chapter 19
The cities of refuge. Wilful murder, and false witnesses must be punished.
19:1. When the Lord thy G.o.d hath destroyed the nations, whose land he will deliver to thee, and thou shalt possess it, and shalt dwell in the cities and houses thereof:
19:2. Thou shalt separate to thee three cities in the midst of the land, which the Lord will give thee in possession,
19:3. Paving diligently the way: and thou shalt divide the whole province of thy land equally into three parts: that he who is forced to flee for manslaughter, may have near at hand whither to escape.
19:4. This shall be the law of the slayer that fleeth, whose life is to be saved: He that killeth his neighbor ignorantly, and who is proved to have had no hatred against him yesterday and the day before:
19:5. But to have gone with him to the wood to hew wood, and in cutting down the tree the axe slipped out of his hand, and the iron slipping from the handle struck his friend, and killed him: he shall flee to one of the cities aforesaid, and live:
19:6. Lest perhaps the next kinsman of him whose blood was shed, pushed on by his grief should pursue, and apprehend him, if the way be too long, and take away the life of him who is not guilty of death, because he is proved to have had no hatred before against him that was slain.
19:7. Therefore I command thee, that thou separate three cities at equal distance one from another.
19:8. And when the Lord thy G.o.d shall have enlarged thy borders, as he swore to the fathers, and shall give thee all the land that he promised them,
19:9. (Yet so, if thou keep his commandments, and do the things which I command thee this day, that thou love the Lord thy G.o.d, and walk in his ways at all times) thou shalt add to thee other three cities, and shalt double the number of the three cities aforesaid:
19:10. That innocent blood may not be shed in the midst of the land which the Lord thy G.o.d will give thee to possess, lest thou be guilty of blood.
19:11. But if any man hating his neighbour, lie in wait for his life, and rise and strike him, and he die, and he flee to one of the cities aforesaid,
19:12. The ancients of his city shall send, and take him out of the place of refuge, and shall deliver him into the hand of the kinsman of him whose blood was shed, and he shall die.
19:13. Thou shalt not pity him, and thou shalt take away the guilt of innocent blood out of Israel, that it may be well with thee.