Ulangan 1:16-17

1:16 I furthermore admonished your judges at that time that they ¹  should pay attention to issues among your fellow citizens ²  and judge fairly, ³  whether between one citizen and another ⁴  or a citizen and a resident foreigner. ⁵  1:17 They ⁶  must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly ⁷  and the great alike. Nor should they be intimidated by human beings, for judgment belongs to God. If the matter being adjudicated is too difficult for them, they should bring it before me for a hearing.

Ulangan 16:18-19

Provision for Justice

16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants ⁸  for each tribe in all your villages ⁹  that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. ¹⁰  16:19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort ¹¹  the words of the righteous. ¹² 

[1:16]  ¹ tn Or “you.” A number of English versions treat the remainder of this verse and v. 17 as direct discourse rather than indirect discourse (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[1:16]  ² tn Heb “brothers.” The term “brothers” could, in English, be understood to refer to siblings, so “fellow citizens” has been used in the translation.

[1:16]  ³ tn The Hebrew word צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “fairly”) carries the basic idea of conformity to a norm of expected behavior or character, one established by God himself. Fair judgment adheres strictly to that norm or standard (see D. Reimer, NIDOTTE 3:750).

[1:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “between a man and his brother.”

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “his stranger” or “his sojourner”; NAB, NIV “an alien”; NRSV “resident alien.” The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger) commonly means “foreigner.”

[1:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “you,” and throughout the verse (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[1:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “the small,” but referring to social status, not physical stature.

[16:18]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.

[16:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “gates.”

[16:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”

[16:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”

[16:19]  ¹² tn Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”