Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges

⁸ “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to ^(A)the place that the Lord your God will choose.

⁵ But you shall seek ^(A)the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation^[a] there. There you shall go,

¹¹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(A)Ask the priests about the law:

⁷ For ^(A)the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people^[a] should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

⁸ Moreover, in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat ^(A)appointed certain Levites and priests and heads of families of Israel, ^(B)to give judgment for the Lord and to decide disputed cases. They had their seat at Jerusalem. ⁹ And he charged them: ^(C)“Thus you shall do in the fear of the Lord, in faithfulness, ^(D)and with your whole heart: ^10 (E)whenever a case comes to you from your brothers who live in their cities, concerning bloodshed, law or commandment, statutes or rules, then you shall warn them, that they may not incur guilt before the Lord and ^(F)wrath may not come upon you and your brothers. Thus you shall do, and you will not incur guilt.

Solomon's Wisdom

¹⁶ Then two prostitutes came to the king ^(A)and stood before him. ¹⁷ The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. ¹⁸ Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. ¹⁹ And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him. ²⁰ And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. ²¹ When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.” ²² But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king.

²³ Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” ²⁴ And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. ²⁵ And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” ²⁶ Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because ^(B)her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” ²⁷ Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” ²⁸ And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that ^(C)the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

¹⁷ then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, ^(A)before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days.

⁴ “This is the provision for ^(A)the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past—