¹ Thou shalt not sacrifice to Jehovah thy God any ox, or^◦ sheep^◦, in which there is a blemish, or any bad thing; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

² If there be·​·found among you, within any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God gives thee, man^◦ or woman, that has done evil in the eyes of Jehovah thy God, in transgressing His covenant,

³ and has gone and served other gods, and bowed·​·down to them, and to the sun, or to the moon, or to all the army of the heavens, which I have not commanded;

⁴ and it be·​·told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel;

⁵ then thou shalt bring·​·out that^◦ man^◦ or that^◦ woman, who has done this evil thing, to^▵ thy gates, even the man^◦ or the woman, and shalt stone^◦ them with stones, and they shall die.

⁶ At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he who should die 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 on^◦ him to put· him ·to·​·death, and afterwards the hands of all the people. And thou shalt sweep·​·away the evil from among you.

⁸ If a thing is wonderful from thee for a judgment, between blood for blood, between cause for cause, and between blow for blow, things of dispute in thy gates; then shalt thou arise, and go·​·up into the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose.

⁹ And thou shalt come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those^◦ days, and inquire; and they shall tell thee the word of judgment.

¹⁰ And thou shalt do according to the mouth of the word which they shall·​·tell thee from that^◦ place which Jehovah shall choose; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they instruct thee,

¹¹ according to the mouth of the law which they shall instruct thee, and according to the judgment which they shall say to thee, thou shalt do; thou shalt not turn·​·aside from the word which they shall tell thee, to the right·​·hand, nor to the left.

¹² And the man^◦ who does presumptuously instead of hearkening to the priest who stands to minister there before Jehovah thy God, or to the judge, even that^◦ man^◦ shall·​·die; and thou shalt sweep·​·away the evil from Israel.

¹³ And all the people shall hear, and fear, and not do·​·presumptuously any more.

¹⁴ When^◦ thou art come to^▵ the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee, and shalt possess her, and shalt dwell in her, and shalt say, I will set over me a king, as all the nations that are around me;

¹⁵ setting thou shalt set over thee a king, him whom Jehovah thy God shall choose; one from among thy brothers shalt thou set over thee as king: thou mayest not put^◦ over thee a foreign man^◦, him^◦ who 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 Jehovah has said to you, You shall henceforth return no more that way.

¹⁷ And he shall not multiply wives to himself, and his heart shall not turn·​·aside; and silver and gold he shall not multiply for himself exceedingly.

¹⁸ And it shall be, as he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a second copy^* of this law in a book from that which is before the priests, the Levites;

¹⁹ and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

²⁰ that his heart be not exalted above his brothers, and that he turn· not ·aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left hand; to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his sons, in the midst^◦ of Israel.

¹ And it was in the fourth year of^◦ Darius the king, that the word of Jehovah was to^▵ Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Kisleu,

² when they had sent to the house of God^◦ Sharezer and Regemmelech, and their men^◦, to implore the face of Jehovah,

³ and to say to^▵ the priests which were in the house of Jehovah of Armies, and to^▵ the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating^▵ myself, as^◦ I have done these so^◦ many years?

⁴ And the word of Jehovah of Armies was to^▵ me, saying,

⁵ Say to^▵ all the people of the land, and to^▵ the priests, saying, When^◦ you fasted and wailed in the fifth and seventh month, even^▵ these seventy years, fasting did you fast for Me, even for Me^◦?

⁶ And when^◦ you ate, and when^◦ you drank, did not you^◦ yourselves eat, and you^◦ yourselves drink?

⁷ Are^▵ these not the words which Jehovah proclaimed by the hand of the first prophets, when Jerusalem was dwelt·​·in and tranquil, and her cities all around her in the south and in the lowland were dwelt·​·in?

⁸ And the word of Jehovah was to^▵ Zechariah, saying,

⁹ Thus says Jehovah of Armies, saying, Judge true judgment, and do mercy and compassions, a man^◦ with^◦ his brother;

¹⁰ and oppress not the widow, nor^◦ the orphan, the sojourner, nor^◦ the afflicted; and let none of you think evil, a man^◦ against his brother, in your heart.

¹¹ But they refused to attend, and gave a defiant shoulder^◦, and made· their ears ·heavy, that they should not hear.

¹² And they set their heart as adamant, and they would not hear the law and the words, which Jehovah of Armies has sent in His spirit by the hand of the former prophets; and there was a great rage from Jehovah of Armies.

¹³ And it was, that as^◦ he^* called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear, says Jehovah of Armies,

¹⁴ but I drove them with a whirlwind on all the nations whom they knew not; and the land was desolate after them, from him who crossed·​·through and from him who returned; and they set the land of desire for a desolation.