Exodus 18:16

18:16 When they have a dispute, ¹  it comes to me and I decide ²  between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.” ³ 

Deuteronomy 4:1

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ⁴  I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ⁵  is giving you.

Deuteronomy 4:5

4:5 Look! I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my God told me to do, so that you might carry them out in ⁶  the land you are about to enter and possess.

Deuteronomy 5:1

The Opening Exhortation

5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: ⁷  “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them!

Deuteronomy 6:1-2

Exhortation to Keep the Covenant Principles

6:1 Now these are the commandments, ⁸  statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed ⁹  6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ¹⁰  that I am giving ¹¹  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days.

Deuteronomy 7:11

7:11 So keep the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that I today am commanding you to do.

Nehemiah 9:13-14

9:13 “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments. 9:14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and law to them through ¹²  Moses your servant.

[18:16]  ¹ tn Or “thing,” “matter,” “issue.”

[18:16]  ² 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]  ³ 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).

[4:1]  ⁴ tn These technical Hebrew terms (חֻקִּים [khuqqim] and מִשְׁפָּטִים [mishpatim]) occur repeatedly throughout the Book of Deuteronomy to describe the covenant stipulations to which Israel had been called to subscribe (see, in this chapter alone, vv. 1, 5, 6, 8). The word חֻקִּים derives from the verb חֹק (khoq, “to inscribe; to carve”) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim) from שָׁפַט (shafat, “to judge”). They are virtually synonymous and are used interchangeably in Deuteronomy.

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

[4:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the midst of” (so ASV).

[5:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”

[6:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “commandment.” The word מִצְוָה (mitsvah) again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on the word “commandments” in 5:31.

[6:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “where you are going over to possess it” (so NASB); NRSV “that you are about to cross into and occupy.”

[6:2]  ¹⁰ tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.

[6:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[9:14]  ¹² tn Heb “by the hand of.”