Deuteronomy 12:12

12:12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages ¹  (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). ² 

Deuteronomy 12:17

12:17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings.

Deuteronomy 16:14

16:14 You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages. ³ 

Deuteronomy 16:18

Provision for Justice

16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants ⁴  for each tribe in all your villages ⁵  that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. ⁶ 

Deuteronomy 22:15

22:15 Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity ⁷  for the elders of the city at the gate.

¹ tn Heb “within your gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “who belongs to your community.”

² sn They have no allotment or inheritance with you. See note on the word “inheritance” in Deut 10:9.

³ tn Heb “in your gates.”

⁵ tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.

⁶ tn Heb “gates.”

⁷ tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”

⁷ sn In light of v. 17 this would evidently be blood-stained sheets indicative of the first instance of intercourse. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 302-3.