Leviticus 24:11

24:11 The Israelite woman’s son misused the Name and cursed, ¹  so they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)

Numbers 15:33

15:33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community.

Numbers 27:2

27:2 And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said,

Numbers 36:1

Women and Land Inheritance

36:1 Then the heads of the family groups ²  of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses ³  and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 1:17

1:17 They ⁵  must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly ⁶  and the great alike. Nor should they be intimidated by human beings, for judgment belongs to God. If the matter being adjudicated is too difficult for them, they should bring it before me for a hearing.

Deuteronomy 17:8-9

Appeal to a Higher Court

17:8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ⁷  legal claim, ⁸  or assault ⁹  – matters of controversy in your villages ¹⁰  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ¹¹  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.

¹ tn The verb rendered “misused” means literally “to bore through, to pierce” (HALOT 719 s.v. נקב qal); it is from נָקַב (naqav), not קָבַב (qavav; see the participial form in v. 16a). Its exact meaning here is uncertain. The two verbs together may form a hendiadys, “he pronounced by cursing blasphemously” (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 166), the idea being one of the following: (1) he pronounced the name “Yahweh” in a way or with words that amounted to “some sort of verbal aggression against Yahweh himself” (E. S. Gerstenberger, Leviticus [OTL], 362), (2) he pronounced a curse against the man using the name “Yahweh” (N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers [NCBC], 110; G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 311), or (3) he pronounced the name “Yahweh” and thereby blasphemed, since the “Name” was never to be pronounced (a standard Jewish explanation). In one way or another, the offense surely violated Exod 20:7, one of the ten commandments, and the same verb for cursing is used explicitly in Exod 22:28 (27 HT) prohibition against “cursing” God. For a full discussion of these and related options for interpreting this verse see P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 335-36; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 408-9; and Levine, 166.

² tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”

³ tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”

⁴ tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”

³ tn Heb “you,” and throughout the verse (cf. NASB, NRSV).

⁴ tn Heb “the small,” but referring to social status, not physical stature.

⁴ tn Heb “between blood and blood.”

⁵ tn Heb “between claim and claim.”

⁶ tn Heb “between blow and blow.”

⁷ tn Heb “gates.”

⁸ 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.