--- title: "Israel’s Leaders" description: "You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment. Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build" image: "" book: "Deuteronomy" bookId: "DEU" testament: "old" startChapter: 16 startVerse: 18 endChapter: 17 endVerse: 7 coversChapters: [16,17] aiTitle: "Israel’s Leaders" aiDescription: "You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment. Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build" hasAiStory: true location: "" persons: ["God","Israel"] hashtags: ["covenant","idolatry","judgment","righteousness"] genre: "law" readingTime: 2 type: "adaptive" slug: "DEU/israels-leaders" canonicalId: "DEU.16.18-17.7" chronologicalOrder: 318 relatedSlugs: [] prevSlug: "DEU/the-pilgrimage-festivals" nextSlug: "DEU/courts-of-law" --- ### Judges and Justice You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the [LORD](/persons/god) your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment. Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. ### Forbidden Forms of Worship Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God, and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates. ### Detestable Sacrifices You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep with any defect or serious flaw, for that is detestable to the LORD your God. ### Purge the Idolater If a man or woman among you in one of the towns that the LORD your God gives you is found doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God by transgressing His covenant and going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven—which I have forbidden— and if it is reported and you hear about it, you must investigate it thoroughly.
If the report is true and such an abomination has happened in [Israel](/persons/israel), you must bring out to your gates the man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you must stone that person to death. On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but he shall not be executed on the testimony of a lone witness. The hands of the witnesses shall be the first in putting him to death, and after that, the hands of all the people. So you must purge the evil from among you.

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