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1 “You shall not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bull, or sheep, which has blemish, or any defect whatsoever; for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God.

2 “If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you, man or woman, who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your 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 any case arises requiring decision, between blood and blood, plea and plea, or between stroke and stroke, any case within your towns that is controversial [too difficult] for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose.

9 And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge that shall be in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall show you the sentence of judgement;

10 And you shall do according to what they declare to you; which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall show you; and you shall be careful to do according to all that they inform you.

11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgement which they shall tell you, you shall do: You shall not turn aside from the verdict they give you, either to the right hand or to the left.

12 The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

13 And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously any more.

14 When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God gives 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 may 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: for as much as the Lord has said unto you, You 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.

[12] wə·hā·’îš “And/but (wə) the man…” this is a continuation of the previous context. Also see Num. 12:9

[11] Deuteronomy 28:14 “And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”

v.8-13 is the institution of the priestly levitical court. See Priests and Kings.

Priests are responsible for unintentional sins committed by the public. This is related to the making of judgements and laws. The law for high priests to make laws is in Deu. 17:9 and the laws for them being responsible for people sinning under those laws is in Lev 4:3. For an example of how this works see Ezekiel 44:9-10.

This is what would happen; sometimes bad (text: contemptuous) people would try to find a way around the Law or there would be edge cases. This kind of 'evil' would then be purged by delineating and specifying those cases for future generations.

From v.11, we see that sometimes people would follow the law correctly but through no fault of their own or by following a judgement a new edge case would arise or people would be confused on how to proceed. This was an ongoing, living process by which evil and sin was to be removed from Israel – this was God's prescription to solve the problem.

h.לא תזבח… כל דבר רע THOU SHALT NOT SACRIFICE [UNTO THE LORD THY GOD ANY OF THE HERD OR FLOCK WHEREIN IS BLEMISH OR] ANY EVIL THING — This is an admonition to one who would make sacrifices abominable through an evil utterance (דבר רע). (See Rashi on Leviticus 7:18; cf. Sifrei Devarim 147:5). Besides this, other Halachas have been derived from it in the Treatise on “The slaughtering of Sacrifices” (Zevachim 36).

h.לעבר בריתו TRANSGRESSING HIS COVENANT — i.e. the covenant which He made with you not to practise idolatry.

h.אשר לא צויתי [AND HATH GONE AND SERVED OTHER GODS … EITHER THE SUN, OR MOON, OR ANY OF THE HOST OF HEAVEN] WHICH I HAVE NOT COMMANDED to worship them (Megillah 9b).

h.נכון [AND, BEHOLD, IT BE TRUE, AND THE THING BE] CERTAIN — i.e. the evidence of the witnesses is in agreement (מְכֻוָּן‎)

h.והוצאת את האיש ההוא אל שעריך וגו׳ THEN THOU SHALT BRING FORTH THAT MAN [OR THAT WOMAN WHO HAVE DONE THAT EVIL THING] UNTO THY GATES — He who renders אל שעריך in the Targum by לתרע בית דינך, unto the gate of thy court, is in error, for thus we have learned (Sifrei Devarim 148:2; Ketubot 45b): אל שעריך — this means the gate (the city) in which he has worshipped the idol. Or, perhaps this is not so, but it means the gate where he is being judged (the judges sat “at the gate of the city”; cf., e.g., Ruth 4:1 ff.)?! The term שעריך, however, is used below (i.e. here, which is the latter part of this section) and is used above (v. 2), and this suggests an analogy. What is the meaning of שעריך that is mentioned above? Evidently the gate (the city) wherein he served the idol! So, too, does שעריך mentioned below (in our verse) denote the gate in which he served the idol. The correct rendering in the Targum is therefore לקרויך “thou shalt bring him forth unto thy cities” (cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 16:18).

h.שנים עדים או שלשה [BY THE MOUTH OF] TWO WITNESSES OR THREE [WITNESSES, SHALL HE THAT IS WORTHY OF DEATH BE PUT TO DEATH] — But if evidence can be established by two witnesses to what end does it (Scripture) mention to you explicitly that it may be established by three? Scripture does so in order to compare the evidence of three witnesses to that of two (to make the same law apply to both cases). How is it in the case of two? Their evidence forms one testimony; so, too, does the evidence of three (or many) witnesses form one testimony and they cannot be declared “plotting witnesses” unless all of them are proved to be “plotting witnesses” (Makkot 5b).

h.כי יפלא IF THERE BE [A THING] TOO HARD [FOR THEE IN JUDGMENT] — The term פלא always denotes separation and being at a distance; it means here that the matter is apart and is hidden from thee.

h.בין דם לדם [IF THERE IS ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR THEE IN JUDGMENT] BETWEEN BLOOD AND BLOOD — i.e. between the blood of the menstruous woman that may be unclean blood, and blood that may be clean (Niddah 19a; cf. Sifrei Devarim 152:5),

h.בין דין לדין BETWEEN PLEA AND PLEA — i.e. between a verdict of acquittal and a verdict of “guilty”.

h.בין נגע לנגע BETWEEN PLAGUE AND PLAGUE — i.e. between a plague that may be unclean and a plague that may be clean.

h.דברי ריבה BEING THINGS OF STRIFE [WITHIN THY GATES] — i.e. that the scholars of the city (the judges) be of different opinions in that particular matter (cf. Onkelos), the one declaring it unclean, the other clean, the one sentencing, the other acquitting,

h.וקמת ועלית THEN SHALT THOU RISE AND GO UP [UNTO THE PLACE WHICH THE LORD THY GOD SHALL CHOOSE] — This (the phrase “go up”) teaches that the Temple (in the vicinity of which the Sanhedrin sat) was situated higher than all other places in Palestine (Sifrei Devarim 152:15; Sanhedrin 87a). (cf. however, Ibn Ezra on Numbers 16:12.)

h.הכהנים הלוים [AND THOU SHALT COME UNTO] THE PRIESTS THE LEVITES — i.e. unto the priests, who descend from of the tribe of Levi.

h.ואל השפט אשר יהיה בימים ההם [AND THOU SHALT COME UNTO THE PRIESTS …] AND UNTO THE JUDGE THAT SHALL BE IN THOSE DAYS — The last apparently redundant words suggest: and even though he is not as eminent as other judges that have been before him, you must obey him — you have none else but the judge that lives in your days (i.e. you are only concerned with him) (Rosh Hashanah 25b).

h.ימין ושמאל [THOU SHALT NOT DEPART FROM THE WORD WHICH THEY SHALL TELL THEE] TO THE RIGHT NOR TO THE LEFT, even if he (the judge) tells you about what appears to you to be right that it is left, or about what appears to you to be left that it is right, you have to obey him; how much the more is this so if actually he tells you about what is evidently right that it is right and about what is left that it is left (cf. Sifrei Devarim 154:5).

h.וכל העם ישמעו AND ALL THE PEOPLE SHALL HEAR [AND FEAR] — From here we derive the law that they wait for him (i.e. defer the execution of a זקן ממרא, an elder who disregards the decision of the Supreme Court, to whom Scripture refers in v. 12 by the words והאיש אשר יעשה בזדון) until the next festival (when all Israel is assembled in Jerusalem) and they put him to death at the season of the festival (Sanhedrin 89a).

h.לא ירבה לו סוסים HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY HORSES TO HIMSELF — but he shall have only what is sufficient for his carriages, in order that he shall not cause the people to return to Egypt, because horses come from there, as it is said in the history of Solomon (1 Kings 10:29) “And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for a hundred and fifty” (Sanhedrin 21b).

h.ולא ירבה לו נשים NEITHER SHALL HE MULTIPLY WIVES TO HIMSELF only eighteen, for we find that David had six wives, and it was announced to him (by Nathan the prophet): “[Thus saith the Lord … I gave thy master’s wives into thy bosom] … and if that had been too little, I would add unto thee such and such as these (i.e. twice as many)” (Sanhedrin 21a).

h.וכסף וזהב לא ירבה לו מאד NEITHER SHALL HE GREATLY MULTIPLY TO HIMSELF SILVER AND GOLD — but only as much as he needs for his soldiers’ pay (Sanhedrin 21a).

h.והיה כשבתו AND IT SHALL BE WHEN HE SITTETH [UPON THE THRONE OF HIS KINGDOM] — if he acts thus (as prescribed in the previous verses) he is worthy that his kingdom should endure (Sifrei Devarim 160:1).

h.את משנה התורה [HE SHALL WRITE HIM] A משנה תורה — i.e. two scrolls of the Law, one that is placed in his treasury and the other that goes out and comes in with him (i.e. a small scroll which he carries everywhere with him) (Sanhedrin 21b). Onkelos, however, renders משנה by פתשגן, a copy; he thus interpreted the word משנה in the sense of שנן, repeating and uttering.

h.דברי התורה [ALL] THE WORDS OF [THIS] LAW — Take it as what it literally implies.

h.ולבלתי סור מן המצוה AND THAT HE DEPART NOT FROM THE COMMANDMENT — not even from a less important command given to him by means of a prophet.

h.למען יאריך ימים TO THE END THAT HE MAY PROLONG HIS DAYS [IN HIS KINGDOM] — From the positive statement you may derive the negative (that if he does not fulfil the commandments his kingdom will not endure). And so, indeed, do we find in the case of Saul that Samuel said to him, (I Samuel 10:8) “Seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come unto thee” to offer burnt sacrifices, and it is written, (I Samuel 13:8) “and he tarried seven days”, but he did not keep his promise to wait the whole of the seventh day and had scarcely finished offering the burnt offering when Samuel came (I Samuel 10:10) and said to him (I Samuel 10:13-14) “Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept [the commandment of the Lord thy God, which He commanded thee; for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever;] but now thy kingdom shall not continue”. Thus you learn that for the neglect of an unimportant command given by means of a prophet he was severely punished.

h.הוא ובניו [THAT HE MAY PROLONG HIS DAYS IN HIS KINGDOM] HE, AND HIS CHILDREN — This tells you that if his son is worthy of becoming king he has to be given preference to any other person (Horayot 11b).