⁹ Go to the Levitical^(A) priests and to the judge^(B) who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.^{(C) 10} You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. ¹¹ Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.^{(D) 12} Anyone who shows contempt^(E) for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering^(F) there to the Lord your God is to be put to death.^(G) You must purge the evil from Israel.^(H)

Lawsuits Among Believers

6 If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people?^{(A) 2} Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world?^(B) And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? ³ Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

⁷ “For the lips of a priest^(A) ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger^(B) of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.^(C)