¹¹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(A)Ask the priests about the law:

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

¹⁰ You are to ^(A)distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹ and ^(B)you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”

⁹ He must ^(A)hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in ^(B)sound^[a] doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

^23 (A)They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and ^(B)show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. ^24 (C)In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and ^(D)they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.

Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges

⁸ “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to ^(A)the place that the Lord your God will choose. ^9 (B)And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and ^(C)they shall declare to you the decision. ¹⁰ Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the Lord will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. ¹¹ According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left.