⁸ Moreover in Jerusalem, for the judgment of the Lord and for controversies, Jehoshaphat ^(A)appointed some of the Levites and priests, and some of the chief fathers of Israel, ^[a]when they returned to Jerusalem.

⁸ And with them he sent Levites: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah—the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. ^9 (A)So they taught in Judah, and had the Book of the Law of the Lord with them; they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people.

²⁹ Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons ^(A)performed duties as ^(B)officials and judges over Israel outside Jerusalem.

⁴ Of these, twenty-four thousand were to ^(A)look after the work of the house of the Lord, six thousand were ^(B)officers and judges,

Laws of Social Responsibility

25 “If there is a ^(A)dispute between men, and they come to ^[a]court, that the judges may judge them, and they ^(B)justify the righteous and condemn the wicked,

⁵ Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for ^(A)the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; ^(B)by their word every controversy and every ^[a]assault shall be settled.

^8 (A)“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the ^(B)place which the Lord your God chooses. ⁹ And ^(C)you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and ^(D)to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; ^(E)they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. ¹⁰ You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. ¹¹ According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. ¹² Now ^(F)the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. ^13 (G)And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.

¹⁹ Listen now to my voice; I will give you ^[a]counsel, and God will be with you: Stand ^(A)before God for the people, so that you may ^(B)bring the difficulties to God. ²⁰ And you shall ^(C)teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and ^(D)the work they must do. ²¹ Moreover you shall select from all the people ^(E)able men, such as ^(F)fear God, ^(G)men of truth, ^(H)hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. ²² And let them judge the people at all times. ^(I)Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for ^(J)they will bear the burden with you. ²³ If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their ^(K)place in peace.”

²⁴ So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ²⁵ And ^(L)Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. ²⁶ So they judged the people at all times; the ^(M)hard^[b] cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves.