They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment.

then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments.

‘And these things shall be a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

These are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded the children of Israel by the hand of Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.

You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’

Moses Commands Obedience

“Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you.

“Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess.

And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?

And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.

These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt,

The Ten Commandments Reviewed

And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them.

But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’

The Greatest Commandment

“Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess,

“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’

Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.

Blessings of Obedience

“Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.

“Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,

Love and Obedience Rewarded

“Therefore you shall love the Lord your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always.

And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.

A Prescribed Place of Worship

“These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.

Justice Must Be Administered

“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

“If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses.

And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment.

According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you.

A Special People of God

“This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.