Judging Cases

⁸ “^(A)If any case is too difficult for you to judge, between ^[a]one kind of homicide or another, between ^[b]one kind of lawsuit or another, and between ^[c]one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your gates, then you shall arise and go up to ^(B)the place which Yahweh your God chooses. ⁹ So you shall come to ^(C)the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them, and they will declare to you the judgment in the case.

¹⁷ then both the men who have the dispute shall stand ^(A)before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days.

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

⁴ Of these, 24,000 were ^(A)to direct the work of the house of Yahweh; and 6,000 were ^(B)officers and judges,

⁸ In Jerusalem also Jehoshaphat appointed some ^(A)of the Levites and priests, and some of the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel, for the judgment of Yahweh and to judge ^[a]disputes. So they returned to Jerusalem. ⁹ Then he commanded them saying, “Thus you shall do in the fear of Yahweh, faithfully and wholeheartedly. ^10 (B)Whenever any dispute comes to you from your brothers who live in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, you shall warn them so that they may not be guilty before Yahweh and ^(C)wrath may not come on you and your brothers. Thus you shall do, and you will not be guilty.