Exodus 18:13

18:13 On the next day ¹  Moses sat to judge ²  the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening.

Exodus 18:16

18:16 When they have a dispute, ³  it comes to me and I decide ⁴  between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.” ⁵ 

Exodus 18:19

18:19 Now listen to me, ⁶  I will give you advice, and may God be with you: You be a representative for the people to God, ⁷  and you bring ⁸  their disputes ⁹  to God;

Exodus 18:26

18:26 They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring ¹⁰  to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

Deuteronomy 17:8-12

Appeal to a Higher Court

17:8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ¹¹  legal claim, ¹²  or assault ¹³  – matters of controversy in your villages ¹⁴  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ¹⁵  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 ¹⁶  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.

Deuteronomy 17:2

17:2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you – in one of your villages ¹⁷  that the Lord your God is giving you – who sins before the Lord your God ¹⁸  and breaks his covenant

Deuteronomy 15:2-6

15:2 This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; ¹⁹  he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, ²⁰  for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.” 15:3 You may exact payment from a foreigner, but whatever your fellow Israelite ²¹  owes you, you must remit. 15:4 However, there should not be any poor among you, for the Lord ²²  will surely bless ²³  you in the land that he ²⁴  is giving you as an inheritance, ²⁵  15:5 if you carefully obey ²⁶  him ²⁷  by keeping ²⁸  all these commandments that I am giving ²⁹  you today. 15:6 For the Lord your God will bless you just as he has promised; you will lend to many nations but will not borrow from any, and you will rule over many nations but they will not rule over you.

[18:13]  ¹ tn Heb “and it was/happened on the morrow.”

[18:13]  ² sn This is a simple summary of the function of Moses on this particular day. He did not necessarily do this every day, but it was time now to do it. The people would come to solve their difficulties or to hear instruction from Moses on decisions to be made. The tradition of “sitting in Moses’ seat” is drawn from this passage.

[18:16]  ³ tn Or “thing,” “matter,” “issue.”

[18:16]  ⁴ tn The verb שָׁפַט (shafat) means “to judge”; more specifically, it means to make a decision as an arbiter or umpire. When people brought issues to him, Moses decided between them. In the section of laws in Exodus after the Ten Commandments come the decisions, the מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishppatim).

[18:16]  ⁵ tn The “decrees” or “statutes” were definite rules, stereotyped and permanent; the “laws” were directives or pronouncements given when situations arose. S. R. Driver suggests this is another reason why this event might have taken place after Yahweh had given laws on the mountain (Exodus, 165).

[18:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “hear my voice.”

[18:19]  ⁶ tn The line reads “Be you to the people before God.” He is to be their representative before God. This is introducing the aspect of the work that only Moses could do, what he has been doing. He is to be before God for the people, to pray for them, to appeal on their behalf. Jethro is essentially saying, I understand that you cannot delegate this to anyone else, so continue doing it (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 219-20).

[18:19]  ⁷ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive; following the imperative it will be instruction as well. Since the imperative preceding this had the idea of “continue to be” as you are, this too has that force.

[18:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “words”; KJV, ASV “the causes”; NRSV “cases”; NLT “questions.”

[18:26]  ⁷ tn This verb and the verb in the next clause are imperfect tenses. In the past tense narrative of the verse they must be customary, describing continuous action in past time.

[17:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “between blood and blood.”

[17:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “between claim and claim.”

[17:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “between blow and blow.”

[17:8]  ¹² tn Heb “gates.”

[17:8]  ¹³ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).

[17:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “gates.”

[17:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “does the evil in the eyes of the Lord your God.”

[15:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his neighbor,” used idiomatically to refer to another person.

[15:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his neighbor and his brother.” The words “his brother” may be a scribal gloss identifying “his neighbor” (on this idiom, see the preceding note) as a fellow Israelite (cf. v. 3). In this case the conjunction before “his brother” does not introduce a second category, but rather has the force of “that is.”

[15:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “your brother.”

[15:4]  ¹⁹ tc After the phrase “the Lord” many mss and versions add “your God” to complete the usual full epithet.

[15:4]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “surely.” Note however, that the use is rhetorical, for the next verse attaches a condition.

[15:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[15:4]  ²² tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess.”

[15:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “if listening you listen to the voice of.” The infinitive absolute is used for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “carefully.” The idiom “listen to the voice” means “obey.”

[15:5]  ²² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 15:4.

[15:5]  ²³ tn Heb “by being careful to do.”

[15:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB); NAB “which I enjoin you today.”