and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am placing before you today.

Laws of the Sanctuary

“These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully follow in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.

“You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

in that I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it.

And he shall remain in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then he shall return to his own city and to his own house, to the city from which he fled.’”

She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went up to her for judgment.

Now then, take your stand, so that I may enter into judgment with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord that He did for you and your fathers.

And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the road to the gate; and when any man who had a lawsuit was to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call out to him and say, “From what city are you?” And he would say, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.”

Absalom dealt this way with all Israel who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.

When all Israel heard about the judgment which the king had handed down, they feared the king, because they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

And he made the hall of the throne where he was to judge, the hall of judgment, and it was paneled with cedar from floor to floor.

Now while your servant was busy here and there, he disappeared.” And the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself determined it.”

Judgment upon Ahab’s House

Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the officials of Jezreel, the elders, and to the guardians of the children of Ahab, saying,

Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth,

He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.

He said to the judges, “Consider what you are doing, for you do not judge for mankind but for the Lord who is with you when you render judgment.

In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat also appointed some of the Levites and priests, and some of the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and to judge disputes among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, or judgment, or plague, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house), and cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear and save us.’

Jehu Murders Princes of Judah

And it came about, when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, that he found the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers attending to Ahaziah, and killed them.

Indeed, the army of the Arameans came with a small number of men; yet the Lord handed a very great army over to them, because Judah and Joash had abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.

And whoever does not comply with the Law of your God and the law of the king, judgment is to be executed upon him strictly, whether for death or for banishment, or for confiscation of property or for imprisonment.”

You also open Your eyes on him And bring him into judgment with Yourself.

Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, So that you may know there is judgment.”

Is it because of your reverence that He punishes you, That He enters into judgment against you?

That too would have been a guilty deed calling for judgment, For I would have denied God above.