Deuteronomy 17:8–13

Judging Cases

⁸“^aIf any case is too difficult for you to judge, between ¹one kind of homicide or another, between ²one kind of lawsuit or another, and between ³one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your gates, then you shall arise and go up to ^bthe place which Yahweh your God chooses.

⁹“So you shall come to ^athe Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them, and they will declare to you the judgment in the case.

¹⁰“And you shall do according to the ¹terms of the judgment which they declare to you from that place which Yahweh chooses; and you shall be careful to do according to all that they teach you.

¹¹“^aAccording to the ¹terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left.

¹²“And the man who acts ^apresumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to minister to Yahweh your God, or to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.

¹³“Then all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act ^apresumptuously again.