Deuteronômio 17

ARC · Chapter 17/34

1Não sacrificarás ao Senhor teu Deus, boi ou gado miudo em que haja defeito ou alguma coisa má; pois abominação é ao Senhor teu Deus.

2Quando no meio de ti, em alguma das tuas portas que te dá o Senhor teu Deus, se achar algum homem ou mulher que fizer mal aos olhos do Senhor teu Deus, traspassando o seu concerto,

3Que se fôr, e servir a outros deuses, e se encurvar a elles, ou ao sol, ou á lua, ou a todo o exercito do céu; o que eu não ordenei;

4E te fôr denunciado, e o ouvires; então bem o inquirirás: e eis que, sendo verdade, e certo que se fez tal abominação em Israel.

5Então tirarás o homem ou a mulher que fez este maleficio, ás tuas portas, sim, o tal homem ou mulher: e os apedrejarás com pedras, até que morram.

6Por bocca de duas testemunhas, ou tres testemunhas, será morto o que houver de morrer: por bocca d'uma só testemunha não morrerá.

7A mão das testemunhas será primeiro contra elle, para matal-o; e depois a mão de todo o povo: assim tirarás o mal do meio de ti.

8Quando alguma coisa te fôr difficultosa em juizo, entre sangue e sangue, entre demanda e demanda, entre ferida e ferida, em negocios de pendencias nas tuas portas, então te levantarás, e subirás ao logar que escolher o Senhor teu Deus;

9E virás aos sacerdotes levitas, e ao juiz que houver n'aquelles dias, e inquirirás, e te annunciarão a palavra que fôr do juizo.

10E farás conforme ao mandado da palavra que te annunciarão do logar que escolher o Senhor; e terás cuidado de fazer conforme a tudo o que te ensinarem.

11Conforme ao mandado da lei que te ensinarem, e conforme ao juizo que te disserem, farás: da palavra que te annunciarem te não desviarás, nem para a direita nem para a esquerda.

12O homem pois que se houver soberbamente, não dando ouvidos ao sacerdote, que está ali para servir ao Senhor teu Deus, nem ao juiz, o tal homem morrerá: e tirarás o mal de Israel:

13Para que todo o povo o ouça, e tema, e nunca mais se ensoberbeça.

14Quando entrares na terra, que te dá o Senhor teu Deus, e a possuires, e n'ella habitares, e disseres: Porei sobre mim um rei, assim como teem todas as gentes que estão em redor de mim:

15Porás certamente sobre ti como rei aquelle que escolher o Senhor teu Deus: d'entre teus irmãos porás rei sobre ti: não poderás pôr homem estranho sobre ti, que não seja de teus irmãos

16Porém não multiplicará para si cavallos, nem fará voltar o povo ao Egypto, para multiplicar cavallos; pois o Senhor vos tem dito: Nunca mais voltareis por este caminho.

17Tão pouco para si multiplicará mulheres, para que o seu coração se não desvie: nem prata nem oiro multiplicará muito para si.

18Será tambem que, quando se assentar sobre o throno do seu reino, então escreverá para si um traslado d'esta lei n'um livro, do que está diante dos sacerdotes levitas.

19E o terá comsigo, e n'elle lerá todos os dias da sua vida; para que aprenda a temer ao Senhor seu Deus, para guardar todas as palavras d'esta lei, e estes estatutos, para fazel-os;

20Para que o seu coração não se levante sobre os seus irmãos, e não se aparte do mandamento, nem para a direita nem para a esquerda: para que prolongue os dias no seu reino, elle e seus filhos no meio de Israel.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Moses establishes judicial procedures for difficult cases, to be decided by priests and judges at a central tribunal, and presents the first law concerning Israel's monarchy — anticipating that the people would ask for a king, but limiting his power so that he would not accumulate excessive horses, wives, or wealth, and requiring him to copy and read the Law personally every day.

Explanation

It is remarkable that the Law foresees and regulates Israel's future monarchy centuries before it actually existed (it would only become reality with Saul, about 300 years later), showing a long-range prophetic vision of the nation's political structure. The specific limits placed on royal power — no excessive cavalry, no extensive harem, no disproportionate accumulated wealth — were aimed at preventing precisely the abuses of power common among kings of the ancient Near East, and would later be tragically violated by Solomon himself, generations afterward (1 Kings 11). The requirement that the king keep and personally read his own copy of the Law 'all the days of his life' established a revolutionary principle: even the highest ruler was subject to the same law that governed the common people, not above it.

Fun facts

  • The prophecy that Israel would ask for a king 'like as all the nations that are about me' (v. 14) would be fulfilled almost literally centuries later in 1 Samuel 8:5, when the people make that exact request to Samuel using very similar words.
  • The requirement that the king personally write out his own copy of the Law (v. 18) is one of the earliest biblical examples of constitutional limitation of political power through an accessible, binding written text — a remarkably advanced concept for its time.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Deuteronômio 17:1It repeats the quality requirement for sacrifices: no animal with a defect may be offered, because that would be an abomination to God.
  2. Deuteronômio 17:2It addresses the case of someone found practicing idolatry within one of the towns of Israel.
  3. Deuteronômio 17:3It details the kind of idolatry forbidden: serving other gods, or even worshiping the sun, the moon, and the stars — none of which God ever commanded.
  4. Deuteronômio 17:4Before any punishment, the report had to be carefully investigated to confirm whether it was really true.
  5. Deuteronômio 17:5Once the case was confirmed, the penalty was public stoning, carried out at the gates of the town.
  6. Deuteronômio 17:6Requiring two or three witnesses for a death sentence, never just one, is a rare procedural safeguard for the time: a single accusation, however serious, was not enough to take someone’s life.
  7. Deuteronômio 17:7Just as in chapter 13, the one who brings the accusation must be the first to carry out the penalty, followed by the rest of the people.
  8. Deuteronômio 17:8It provides for legal cases too complex for the local judges to settle, which were to be brought up to the central sanctuary.
  9. Deuteronômio 17:9There, the Levitical priests and the judge in office at the time would give the final ruling on the difficult case.
  10. Deuteronômio 17:10The ruling coming from the place God chose was to be followed exactly, without question.
  11. Deuteronômio 17:11It reinforces the duty to follow exactly what the priests and judges taught, turning aside neither to the right nor to the left.
  12. Deuteronômio 17:12Whoever arrogantly disobeyed that official ruling was to be condemned to death, as a way of purging that rebellion from among the people.
  13. Deuteronômio 17:13The purpose of this severe punishment is, once again, to serve as a public example to deter others from the same arrogance.
  14. Deuteronômio 17:14When the people would ask for a king, the law already limits his power in advance: he may not accumulate many horses, many wives, or much silver and gold. It’s a rare restriction for the time, written even before Israel had its first king.
  15. Deuteronômio 17:15If the people asked for a king, the condition was that he be chosen by God and come from among their own people, never a foreigner.
  16. Deuteronômio 17:16It limits the future king’s power: he is forbidden to accumulate many horses, especially if doing so meant sending people back to Egypt to get them.
  17. Deuteronômio 17:17It also forbids multiplying wives, because of the risk of turning the king’s heart away, and limits the excessive accumulation of silver and gold.
  18. Deuteronômio 17:18The king himself had to copy out the law by hand and read it every day: he was not above the law, but subject to it like any other Israelite, at least on paper.
  19. Deuteronômio 17:19Once he was king, he was to read this copy of the law every day, to learn to fear God and keep the commandments.
  20. Deuteronômio 17:20The purpose of the daily reading is to prevent arrogance and straying from the law, ensuring a long reign for him and his descendants.

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