Deuteronomy 17:9

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.

Deuteronomy 17:18-19

17:18 When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law ¹  on a scroll ²  given to him by the Levitical priests. 17:19 It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out.

Deuteronomy 17:2

17:2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you – in one of your villages ³  that the Lord your God is giving you – who sins before the Lord your God ⁴  and breaks his covenant

Deuteronomy 19:5-7

19:5 Suppose he goes with someone else ⁵  to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax ⁶  to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose ⁷  from the handle and strikes ⁸  his fellow worker ⁹  so hard that he dies. The person responsible ¹⁰  may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. ¹¹  19:6 Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, ¹²  and kill him, ¹³  though this is not a capital case ¹⁴  since he did not hate him at the time of the accident. 19:7 Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

¹ tn Or “instruction.” The LXX reads here τὸ δευτερονόμιον τοῦτο (to deuteronomion touto, “this second law”). From this Greek phrase the present name of the book, “Deuteronomy” or “second law” (i.e., the second giving of the law), is derived. However, the MT’s expression מִשְׁנֶה הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת (mishneh hattorah hazzo’t) is better rendered “copy of this law.” Here the term תּוֹרָה (torah) probably refers only to the book of Deuteronomy and not to the whole Pentateuch.

² tn The Hebrew term סֵפֶר (sefer) means a “writing” or “document” and could be translated “book” (so KJV, ASV, TEV). However, since “book” carries the connotation of a modern bound book with pages (an obvious anachronism) it is preferable to render the Hebrew term “scroll” here and elsewhere.

³ tn Heb “gates.”

⁴ tn Heb “does the evil in the eyes of the Lord your God.”

⁵ tn Heb “his neighbor” (so NAB, NIV); NASB “his friend.”

⁶ tn Heb “and he raises his hand with the iron.”

⁷ tn Heb “the iron slips off.”

⁸ tn Heb “finds.”

⁹ tn Heb “his neighbor.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the person responsible for his friend’s death) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Heb “and live.”

¹² tn Heb “and overtake him, for the road is long.”

¹³ tn Heb “smite with respect to life,” that is, fatally.

¹⁴ tn Heb “no judgment of death.”