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Provision for Justice

18 You must appoint judges and civil servants[a] for each tribe in all your villages[b] that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly.[c] 19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort[d] the words of the righteous.[e] 20 You must pursue justice alone[f] so that you may live and inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 16:18 tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (veshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.
  2. Deuteronomy 16:18 tn Heb “gates.”
  3. Deuteronomy 16:18 tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”
  4. Deuteronomy 16:19 tn Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”
  5. Deuteronomy 16:19 tn Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”
  6. Deuteronomy 16:20 tn Heb “justice, justice.” The repetition is emphatic; one might translate as “pure justice” or “unadulterated justice” (cf. NLT “true justice”).

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.(A) 19 You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.(B) 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.

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