20 Comprehensive Deuteronomy 17 Quiz Questions And Answers

This Deuteronomy 17 quiz tests one of the most consequential chapters in the Mosaic law: a perfect sacrifice, a stoned idolater, the rule witnesses, the higher court of priests and judge, and the law of the king who must copy the law in his own hand. Pair it with the Deuteronomy 16 quiz for the local judges this chapter assumes, and the Deuteronomy 18 quiz for the priestly and prophetic offices that follow. The Leviticus 20 quiz covers the original death sentence on idolatry, and the entire Bible quiz is the longer test for memory.

Deuteronomy 17 Quiz Questions and Answers

Question 1: Verse 13 names three responses that follow the public execution of an offender. Which set names them in order?

A. They marvel, they tremble, and they weep before the LORD God
B. They flee, they hide, and they bow before the judges of the gate
C. They hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously
D. They watch, they wait, and they obey in great fear of the LORD
E. They mourn, they fast, and they pray with the elders of the city

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Answer 1: C. The three-part deterrent formula is hear, fear, and ceasing from presumption. The same wording appears across Deuteronomy 13, 19, and 21 wherever public capital judgment is in view, framing each execution as a national pedagogical event.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:13. “And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.”

Question 2: What was the king of Israel forbidden to multiply that would lead the people back to Egypt?

A. Horses
B. Servants
C. Treasures
D. Counsellors
E. Strong men

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Answer 2: A. Horses were the war machinery of the ancient world, and Egypt was their chief supplier. To stockpile them meant trade dependence on Egypt and military trust in chariots rather than the LORD. The verse names the strategic risk explicitly.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:16. “But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses.”

Question 3: How many witnesses did this chapter require to put a man to death?

A. At the mouth of one trustworthy witness
B. At the mouth of seven elders of the gate
C. At the mouth of two to four sworn witnesses
D. At the mouth of two or three witnesses
E. At the mouth of five witnesses gathered before judges

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Answer 3: D. Two or three was the binding standard. The number is not arbitrary; it is the evidentiary threshold the chapter sets to prevent miscarriage of justice in capital cases, later carried into the New Testament for both formal accusation and church discipline.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:6. “At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death.”

Question 4: Verse 8 lists three categories of hard cases that the local judges could not settle. Which set names them correctly?

A. Between theft and theft, between deceit and deceit, between oath and oath
B. Between trespass and trespass, between curse and curse, between rich and poor
C. Between vow and vow, between debt and debt, between kindred and kindred
D. Between the bond and the free, between the elder and the youth, between brothers
E. Between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between stroke and stroke

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Answer 4: E. Three classes are named: capital cases (blood and blood), civil disputes (plea and plea), and bodily injury (stroke and stroke). Together they cover the major categories where local jurisdiction was insufficient and the central court had to be invoked.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:8. “between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates.”

Question 5: What was the stated purpose of the king reading the law all the days of his life?

A. That his throne might endure to the children’s children
B. That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren
C. That his name be remembered in the chronicles of his land
D. That his servants might honour him as the chosen of God
E. That his children might learn the law of the LORD their God

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Answer 5: B. The stated purpose is humility, not honour or longevity (though longevity follows). The law is the king’s safeguard against royal pride, leveling him with his brethren rather than elevating him above them.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:20. “That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left.”

Question 6: This chapter forbids sacrificing two specific animals when they have any blemish or evilfavouredness. Which two are named in verse 1?

A. The lamb and the goat
B. The ram and the bullock
C. The heifer and the kid
D. The ox and the turtledove
E. The bullock and the sheep

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Answer 6: E. The verse specifies the bullock and the sheep, the two principal categories of large altar offerings. The chapter opens with this prohibition because the standard of worship governs everything that follows, including the higher court that judges religious offences.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:1. “Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness.”

Question 7: Who, according to this chapter, was to choose the king of Israel?

A. The high priest of the LORD
B. The LORD thy God
C. The elders of all the tribes of Israel
D. The captain of the host of all Israel
E. The heads of the twelve tribes of Israel

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Answer 7: B. God’s choice, not Israel’s. The verse foresees Israel’s future request for a king “like all the nations” but reserves the actual selection to the LORD. The kingship is therefore divine appointment expressed through national recognition, not popular election.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:15. “Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose.”

Question 8: Whose hands were to be FIRST upon the offender at the execution of an idolater?

A. The hands of the priest of the LORD God
B. The hands of the elders of the gate of the city
C. The hands of the chief judge sitting in the gate
D. The hands of the witnesses themselves
E. The hands of the firstborn of his own tribe

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Answer 8: D. The witnesses cast the first stones. The rule places the cost of testimony on the testifier himself, since false testimony would mean participating in the death of an innocent man with one’s own hand, before the rest of the community joined.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:7. “The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people.”

Question 9: Before stoning a person accused of idolatry, what specific procedural step did this chapter require?

A. To enquire diligently, and find the matter true
B. To consult three elders of the gate of his city
C. To proclaim the matter throughout the whole congregation
D. To bring the case unto the priest serving at the altar
E. To await a second witness rising up in the assembly

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Answer 9: A. Diligent enquiry was the safeguard before any execution. Rumour was insufficient; the matter had to be both true and certain. The procedural step is the same one repeated in chapter 13 for inciters to idolatry, anchoring the principle across multiple capital regimes.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:4. “And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel.”

Question 10: When the king sat on the throne of his kingdom, what was the FIRST official act this chapter commanded him to perform?

A. To appoint the captains over his royal armies
B. To proclaim a feast to the people of his land
C. To write him a copy of this law in a book
D. To gather the elders of the tribes for counsel
E. To consecrate the priests of the LORD his God

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Answer 10: C. The king’s first duty was scribal, not military or political. He was to write out a personal copy of the law from the priestly original. The kingship in Israel begins with the king as a student of the Torah he is bound to obey.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:18. “And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites.”

Question 11: What apart from horses did this chapter forbid the king to multiply, lest his heart turn away from the LORD?

A. Counsellors taken from among the heathen
B. Wives unto himself in great number
C. Servants drawn from the priestly tribe of Levi
D. Treasures gathered from the cities of Canaan
E. Mighty men of the stature of the giants of old

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Answer 11: B. Wives, primarily through political marriage alliances with foreign nations. The verse names the precise spiritual mechanism: such marriages bring foreign gods into the royal household, and the king’s heart turns. Centuries later, Solomon proved the warning prophetic.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:17. “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away.”

Question 12: From which direction were the people forbidden to deviate from the verdict of the higher court?

A. From the way of justice, nor of mercy
B. From the upward path, nor the downward
C. From the front of the camp, nor the rear
D. From the right hand, nor to the left
E. From the high road, nor from the low road

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Answer 12: D. The verdict was binding without lateral deviation. The same phrase, “to the right hand, nor to the left,” is then applied to the king himself in verse 20, deliberately tying royal obedience to the same standard demanded of every Israelite.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:11. “thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.”

Question 13: Could a man be put to death on the testimony of one witness alone?

A. No, never on the testimony of one witness alone
B. Yes, if the witness was a Levitical priest
C. Only if the matter had been found true and certain
D. Only if the elders of the city confirmed the deed
E. Yes, if the high priest sealed the witness’s word

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Answer 13: A. One witness was insufficient under any circumstance, regardless of the witness’s office or status. The same verse that establishes the two-or-three rule explicitly forbids execution on a single testimony, eliminating any procedural workaround.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:6. “but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.”

Question 14: Where were the man or woman who had committed idolatry to be brought for execution?

A. To the place outside the camp of all Israel
B. Before the priest serving at the chosen place
C. Forth unto thy gates of the city
D. Up unto the high place of the LORD their God
E. Upon the mount in the midst of the camp

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Answer 14: C. Execution took place at the city gates, the public square where civic life happened. The community whose covenant had been violated witnessed the judgment together. Execution outside the camp belongs to other ritual contexts, not this one.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:5. “Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates.”

Question 15: Verse 3 names three specific celestial objects that Israel was forbidden to serve as gods. Which set names them in order?

A. The earth, the sea, and the great deep below
B. The fire, the storm, and the dry desert dust
C. The clouds, the rain, and the wild wind of heaven
D. The stars, the planets, and the seasons of the year
E. The sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven

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Answer 15: E. Sun, moon, and the host of heaven by name. These were the very objects pagan nations around Israel openly worshipped, and the chapter targets each of them with the LORD’s terse explanatory clause: “which I have not commanded.”
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:3. “And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded.”

Question 16: What was the punishment for a man who acted presumptuously and refused to obey the priest or the judge of the higher court?

A. He was to be cast forth outside the camp of Israel
B. He was to be silenced in the whole assembly of the gate
C. He was to forfeit a half part of all his property
D. He was to die and the evil put away from Israel
E. He was to be bound with cords for forty whole days

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Answer 16: D. Refusing the higher court’s verdict carried the same penalty as the original capital crime: death, with the evil put away from Israel. The point is that contempt for the court was itself treated as a capital offence.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:12. “even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.”

Question 17: To whom were the people commanded to come for judgment in cases too hard for the local court?

A. The priests the Levites, and the judge that shall be in those days
B. The prophets and the seers serving at the chosen place of the LORD
C. The captain of the host of the LORD’s army at the chosen place
D. The elders and the watchmen of the gate of the chosen city of God
E. The heads of the tribes and the firstborn of all the houses of Israel

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Answer 17: A. The higher court combines priestly authority (the Levites, who carried covenantal expertise) with judicial authority (the judge of those days). The structure prevents either pure clericalism or pure legalism by binding both offices to the same case.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:9. “And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment.”

Question 18: For how long was the king commanded to read the law that he had copied?

A. Until the day of his coronation in his royal city
B. Until the building of the temple of the LORD his God
C. Until the close of his old age and his death
D. Until the day of judgment of all his royal house
E. All the days of his life

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Answer 18: E. The reading was lifelong, not ceremonial. The verse is explicit: every day, throughout his entire reign. The kingship of Israel was therefore tethered to daily Scripture engagement, not to ceremonial moments at the start or end of office.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:19. “And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life.”

Question 19: Beyond horses and wives, what third category did the king’s law forbid him to greatly multiply?

A. Vessels brought from the cities of the heathen
B. Counsellors gathered from the houses of the strangers
C. Silver and gold to himself
D. Treasure houses of the heathen
E. Servants drawn from the priestly tribe of Levi

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Answer 19: C. The third prohibition is silver and gold. Together with horses (military) and wives (political), these three name the three classic temptations of monarchy: armament, alliance, and accumulation. The verse forbids each one specifically.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:17. “neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.”

Question 20: From among whom was the king of Israel to be chosen?

A. From the priestly tribe of Levi alone
B. From among thy brethren
C. From the seed of the eldest sons of Jacob
D. From the strangers who dwell among you
E. From the captains of the host of the war

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Answer 20: B. The king had to be a brother, an Israelite by birth. The verse adds the explicit prohibition on appointing a stranger, ruling out foreign-born candidates regardless of qualification or popularity. The kingship was a covenant office, not a meritocratic one.
KJV Reference: Deuteronomy 17:15. “one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.”

The chapter that forbids the king from multiplying horses, wives, and gold is the chapter every king of Israel was eventually judged by.