Deuteronomy 17:8-13

Appeal to a Higher Court

17:8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ¹  legal claim, ²  or assault ³  – matters of controversy in your villages ⁴  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ⁵  17:9 You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict. 17:10 You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught. 17:11 You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you. 17:12 The person who pays no attention ⁶  to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the verdict – that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel. 17:13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again.

Deuteronomy 17:1

17:1 You must not sacrifice to him ⁷  a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive ⁸  to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 23:4

23:4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired ⁹  Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you.

Deuteronomy 23:2

23:2 A person of illegitimate birth ¹⁰  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 19:8-10

19:8 If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors ¹²  and gives you all the land he pledged to them, ¹³  19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments ¹⁴  I am giving ¹⁵  you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities ¹⁶  to these three. 19:10 You must not shed innocent blood ¹⁷  in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. ¹⁸ 

Ezra 2:63

2:63 The governor ¹⁹  instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult ²⁰  the Urim and Thummim.

¹ tn Heb “between blood and blood.”

² tn Heb “between claim and claim.”

³ tn Heb “between blow and blow.”

⁴ tn Heb “gates.”

⁵ tc Several Greek recensions add “to place his name there,” thus completing the usual formula to describe the central sanctuary (cf. Deut 12:5, 11, 14, 18; 16:6). However, the context suggests that the local Levitical towns, and not the central sanctuary, are in mind.

⁶ tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).

⁷ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

⁸ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

⁹ tn Heb “hired against you.”

¹⁰ tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”

¹¹ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

¹² tn Heb “fathers.”

¹³ tn Heb “he said to give to your ancestors.” The pronoun has been used in the translation instead for stylistic reasons.

¹⁴ tn Heb “all this commandment.” This refers here to the entire covenant agreement of the Book of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).

¹⁵ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today.”

¹⁶ sn You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). See P. C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (NICOT), 267.

¹⁷ tn Heb “innocent blood must not be shed.” The Hebrew phrase דָּם נָקִי (dam naqiy) means the blood of a person to whom no culpability or responsibility adheres because what he did was without malice aforethought (HALOT 224 s.v דָּם 4.b).

¹⁸ tn Heb “and blood will be upon you” (cf. KJV, ASV); NRSV “thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.”

¹⁹ tn The Hebrew word תִּרְשָׁתָא (tirshata’) is an official title of the Persian governor in Judea, perhaps similar in meaning to “excellency” (BDB 1077 s.v.; HALOT 1798 s.v.; W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 395).

²⁰ tn Heb “to stand.”