Deuteronomy 16:18-22

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

Municipal Judges and Officers

¹⁸ You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people. ¹⁹ You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. ²⁰ Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

²¹ You shall not plant any tree as a sacred pole^[a] beside the altar that you make for the Lord your God; ²² nor shall you set up a stone pillar—things that the Lord your God hates.