^17:8If a matter is too difficult for you to judge—bloodshed,¹² legal claim,¹³ or assault¹⁴—matters of controversy in your villages¹⁵—you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses.¹⁶^17:9You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict.

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Footnotes

12 Heb “between blood and blood.”
13 Heb “between claim and claim.”
14 Heb “between blow and blow.”
15 Heb “gates.”
16 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.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose. And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the Lord your God will choose. Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

“If a case is too difficult for you—concerning bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults—cases disputed at your city gates, then go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Ask, and they will give you a verdict in the case.

NLTNew Living Translation

“Suppose a case arises in a local court that is too hard for you to decide—for instance, whether someone is guilty of murder or only of manslaughter, or a difficult lawsuit, or a case involving different kinds of assault. Take such legal cases to the place the Lord your God will choose, and present them to the Levitical priests or the judge on duty at that time. They will hear the case and declare the verdict.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

“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.

KJV 1900King James Version

If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

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