Thematic Bible: Superior court


Thematic Bible



And they judged the people all the time; the difficult issues they would bring to Moses, and every minor issue they would judge themselves.

You must not {be partial} {in your judgment}; hear [out] the small [person] as [also] the great [person]; {do not be intimidated by any person}, because the judgment [is] God's; and the case that is too difficult for you, bring [it] to me, and I will hear it [out].'

"{If a matter is too difficult for you}, [for example disputes] between blood and blood, between legal claim and legal claim and between assault and assault [and between] matters of discernment in your {towns}, then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose; then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be [in office] in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you {the verdict}.


And the man who treats with contempt [so as] not to listen to the priest [who] [is] standing to minister on behalf of Yahweh your God or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel.

Now at that time Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, [was] judging Israel. And she used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the {Israelites} went up to her for judgment.


For the lips of [the] priest should guard knowledge, and they should seek instruction from his mouth, for he [is] the messenger of Yahweh of hosts.

then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be [in office] in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you {the verdict}.


"And {you shall carry out exactly the decision} that they announced to you from that place that Yahweh will choose, and {you shall diligently observe} according to all that they instruct you. [And so] according to {the instruction of the law} that they teach you and according to the decisions that they say to you, you shall do; you shall not turn from the word that they tell you to the right or [to the] left.


"{If a matter is too difficult for you}, [for example disputes] between blood and blood, between legal claim and legal claim and between assault and assault [and between] matters of discernment in your {towns}, then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose;


{And} the next day, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from the morning until the evening. And the father-in-law of Moses saw all that he was doing for the people, and he said, "What [is] this thing that you [are] doing for the people? Why [are] you sitting alone and all the people [are] standing by you from morning until evening?" And Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to seek God. read more.
When {they have an issue}, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known God's rule and his instructions." And the father-in-law of Moses said to him, "The thing that you are doing is not good. Surely you will wear out, both you and this people who [are] with you, because the thing [is too] {difficult} for you. You are not able to do it alone. Now listen to my voice; I will advise you, and may God be with you. You be for the people before God, and you bring the issues to God. And you warn them [of] the rules and the instructions, and you make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work that they must do.