Deuteronomy 1:15-18

1:15 So I chose ¹  as your tribal leaders wise and well-known men, placing them over you as administrators of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and also as other tribal officials. 1:16 I furthermore admonished your judges at that time that they ²  should pay attention to issues among your fellow citizens ³  and judge fairly, ⁴  whether between one citizen and another ⁵  or a citizen and a resident foreigner. ⁶  1:17 They ⁷  must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly ⁸  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.

Instructions at Kadesh Barnea

1:18 So I instructed you at that time regarding everything you should do.

Deuteronomy 16:18

Provision for Justice

16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants ⁹  for each tribe in all your villages ¹⁰  that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 17:8-15

Appeal to a Higher Court

17:8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ¹²  legal claim, ¹³  or assault ¹⁴  – matters of controversy in your villages ¹⁵  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ¹⁶  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 ¹⁷  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.

Provision for Kingship

17:14 When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, “I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me,” 17:15 you must select without fail ¹⁸  a king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens ¹⁹  you must appoint a king – you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites. ²⁰ 

[1:15]  ¹ tn Or “selected”; Heb “took.”

[1:16]  ² tn Or “you.” A number of English versions treat the remainder of this verse and v. 17 as direct discourse rather than indirect discourse (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[1:16]  ³ tn Heb “brothers.” The term “brothers” could, in English, be understood to refer to siblings, so “fellow citizens” has been used in the translation.

[1:16]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “fairly”) carries the basic idea of conformity to a norm of expected behavior or character, one established by God himself. Fair judgment adheres strictly to that norm or standard (see D. Reimer, NIDOTTE 3:750).

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “between a man and his brother.”

[1:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “his stranger” or “his sojourner”; NAB, NIV “an alien”; NRSV “resident alien.” The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger) commonly means “foreigner.”

[1:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “you,” and throughout the verse (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[1:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “the small,” but referring to social status, not physical stature.

[16:18]  ⁹ 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.

[16:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “gates.”

[16:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”

[17:8]  ¹² tn Heb “between blood and blood.”

[17:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “between claim and claim.”

[17:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “between blow and blow.”

[17:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gates.”

[17:8]  ¹⁶ 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.

[17:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).

[17:15]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “without fail.”

[17:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “your brothers,” but not referring to siblings (cf. NIV “your brother Israelites”; NLT “a fellow Israelite”). The same phrase also occurs in v. 20.

[17:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your brothers.” See the preceding note on “fellow citizens.”