Deuteronomy 17:6

The context

This chapter sets out the machinery of justice: courts in the towns, a central tribunal, and the rules for capital cases. The verse states an evidentiary minimum, and the following verse describes the witnesses taking the lead in execution. It belongs to a code that assumes a community responsible for its own order.

What it establishes

It establishes that a single accusation is not sufficient to take a life, and that evidence is weighed rather than assumed. The requirement is a structural protection against private vengeance and false denunciation.

What it does not establish

It does not make the procedure just by later standards. The verse requires a number, not a quality, of witnesses; two colluding liars could satisfy it, which is why the next chapter adds a penalty for perjury. The text regulates a practice rather than defending it.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• Should we really be stoning homosexuals, disobedient children, adulterers and witches, as the Old Testament commands? What an all-loving god you serve, Christians!

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.