Deuteronomy 12:5

12:5 But you must seek only the place he ¹  chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, ²  and you must go there.

Deuteronomy 16:18

Provision for Justice

16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants ³  for each tribe in all your villages ⁴  that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 29:21

29:21 The Lord will single him out ⁶  for judgment ⁷  from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law.

[12:5]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[12:5]  ² tc Some scholars, on the basis of v. 11, emend the MT reading שִׁכְנוֹ (shikhno, “his residence”) to the infinitive construct לְשָׁכֵן (lÿshakhen, “to make [his name] to dwell”), perhaps with the 3rd person masculine singular sf לְשַׁכְּנוֹ (lÿshakÿno, “to cause it to dwell”). Though the presupposed nounשֵׁכֶן (shekhen) is nowhere else attested, the parallel here with שַׁמָּה (shammah, “there”) favors retaining the MT as it stands.

[16:18]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “gates.”

[16:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”

[29:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “set him apart.”

[29:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “for evil”; NAB “for doom”; NASB “for adversity”; NIV “for disaster”; NRSV “for calamity.”