⁹ where you shall consult with the Levitical priests and the judge who is in office in those days; they shall announce to you the decision in the case.^(A)

²⁴ In a dispute they shall act as judges, and they shall decide it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.^(A)

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

¹¹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests for a ruling:^(A)

A Plot against Jeremiah

¹⁸ Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for instruction shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us bring charges against him,^[a] and let us not heed any of his words.”^(A)

¹⁷ then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days,^{(A) 18} and the judges shall make a thorough inquiry. If the witness is a false witness, having testified falsely against another, ¹⁹ then you shall do to the false witness just as the false witness had meant to do to the other. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.^{(B) 20} The rest shall hear and be afraid, and a crime such as this shall never again be committed among you. ²¹ Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.^(C)