Prohibition of Defective Sacrifices and Idolatry

Deuteronomy 17:1–7 is the movement “Prohibition of Defective Sacrifices and Idolatry.” Read it inside Moses’ final covenant instruction to Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan as the people prepare for life in the land. The section opens with: “Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.” It closes with: “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.”

Scripture also places this passage inside a wider canonical network. Hebrews explicitly recalls the Mosaic rule that death required two or three witnesses before arguing to a greater new-covenant warning. Paul closes the discipline case with the Deuteronomic formula 'put away from among yourselves that wicked person,' echoing a refrain repeated throughout Deuteronomy.