¹¹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests for a ruling:^(A)

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

¹⁰ You are to distinguish between the holy and the common and between the unclean and the clean,^{(A) 11} and you are to teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”^(B)

⁹ holding tightly to the trustworthy word of the teaching, so that he may be able both to exhort with sound instruction and to refute those who contradict it.

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

Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges

⁸ “If a judicial decision is too difficult for you to make between one kind of bloodshed and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another—any such matters of dispute in your towns—then you shall immediately go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose,^{(A) 9} where you shall consult with the Levitical priests and the judge who is in office in those days; they shall announce to you the decision in the case.^{(B) 10} Carry out exactly the decision that they announce to you from the place that the Lord will choose, diligently observing everything they instruct you. ¹¹ You must carry out the law that they interpret for you or the ruling that they announce to you; do not turn aside from the decision that they announce to you, either to the right or to the left.^(C)