Ulangan 1:15-17

1:15 So I chose ¹  as your tribal leaders wise and well-known men, placing them over you as administrators of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and also as other tribal officials. 1:16 I furthermore admonished your judges at that time that they ²  should pay attention to issues among your fellow citizens ³  and judge fairly, ⁴  whether between one citizen and another ⁵  or a citizen and a resident foreigner. ⁶  1:17 They ⁷  must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly ⁸  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 17:9

17:9 You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict.

Ulangan 17:12

17:12 The person who pays no attention ⁹  to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the verdict – that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel.

Ulangan 19:17-18

19:17 then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges ¹⁰  who will be in office in those days. 19:18 The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused, ¹¹ 

Ulangan 21:2

21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ¹² 

Keluaran 18:25-26

18:25 Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and he made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 18:26 They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring ¹³  to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

Keluaran 21:6

21:6 then his master must bring him to the judges, ¹⁴  and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. ¹⁵ 

Keluaran 21:1

The Decisions

21:1 ¹⁶ “These are the decisions that you will set before them:

Keluaran 23:4

23:4 “If you encounter ¹⁷  your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, you must by all means return ¹⁸  it to him.

Keluaran 26:29

26:29 You are to overlay the frames with gold and make their rings of gold to provide places for the bars, and you are to overlay the bars with gold.

Keluaran 26:2

26:2 The length of each ¹⁹  curtain is to be forty-two feet, and the width of each curtain is to be six feet ²⁰  – the same size for each of the curtains.

Keluaran 19:5-11

19:5 And now, if you will diligently listen to me ²¹  and keep ²²  my covenant, then you will be my ²³  special possession ²⁴  out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine, 19:6 and you will be to me ²⁵  a kingdom of priests ²⁶  and a holy nation.’ ²⁷  These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites.”

19:7 So Moses came and summoned the elders of Israel. He set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him, 19:8 and all the people answered together, “All that the Lord has commanded we will do!” ²⁸  So Moses brought the words of the people back to the Lord.

19:9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come ²⁹  to you in a dense cloud, ³⁰  so that the people may hear when I speak with you and so that they will always believe in you.” ³¹  And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

19:10 The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and sanctify them ³²  today and tomorrow, and make them wash ³³  their clothes 19:11 and be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

Mazmur 82:2-3

82:2 He says, ³⁴  “How long will you make unjust legal decisions

and show favoritism to the wicked? ³⁵  (Selah)

82:3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless! ³⁶ 

Vindicate the oppressed and suffering!

Roma 13:1-6

Submission to Civil Government

13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, ³⁷  and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 13:2 So the person who resists such authority ³⁸  resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment 13:3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation, 13:4 for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer. 13:5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath of the authorities ³⁹  but also because of your conscience. ⁴⁰  13:6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities ⁴¹  are God’s servants devoted to governing. ⁴² 

[1:15]  ¹ tn Or “selected”; Heb “took.”

[1:16]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “between a man and his brother.”

[1:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “his stranger” or “his sojourner”; NAB, NIV “an alien”; NRSV “resident alien.” The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger) commonly means “foreigner.”

[1:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “you,” and throughout the verse (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[1:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “the small,” but referring to social status, not physical stature.

[17:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).

[19:17]  ¹⁰ tn The appositional construction (“before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges”) indicates that these human agents represented the Lord himself, that is, they stood in his place (cf. Deut 16:18-20; 17:8-9).

[19:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his brother” (also in the following verse).

[21:2]  ¹² tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”

[18:26]  ¹³ tn This verb and the verb in the next clause are imperfect tenses. In the past tense narrative of the verse they must be customary, describing continuous action in past time.

[21:6]  ¹⁴ tn The word is הָאֱלֹהִים (ha’elohim). S. R. Driver (Exodus, 211) says the phrase means “to God,” namely the nearest sanctuary in order that the oath and the ritual might be made solemn, although he does say that it would be done by human judges. That the reference is to Yahweh God is the view also of F. C. Fensham, “New Light on Exodus 21:7 and 22:7 from the Laws of Eshnunna,” JBL 78 (1959): 160-61. Cf. also ASV, NAB, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT. Others have made a stronger case that it refers to judges who acted on behalf of God; see C. Gordon, “אלהים in its Reputed Meaning of Rulers, Judges,” JBL 54 (1935): 134-44; and A. E. Draffkorn, “Ilani/Elohim,” JBL 76 (1957): 216-24; cf. KJV, NIV.

[21:6]  ¹⁵ tn Or “till his life’s end” (as in the idiom: “serve him for good”).

[21:1]  ¹⁶ sn There follows now a series of rulings called “the decisions” or “the judgments” (הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים, hammishpatim). A precept is stated, and then various cases in which the law is applicable are examined. These rulings are all in harmony with the Decalogue that has just been given and can be grouped into three categories: civil or criminal laws, religious or cultic laws, and moral or humanitarian laws. The civil and criminal laws make up most of chap. 21; the next two chapters mix the other kinds of laws. Among the many studies of this section of the book are F. C. Fensham, “The Role of the Lord in the Legal Sections of the Covenant Code,” VT 26 (1976): 262-74; S. Paul, “Unrecognized Biblical Legal Idioms in Light of Comparative Akkadian Expressions,” RB 86 (1979): 231-39; M. Galston, “The Purpose of the Law According to Maimonides,” JQR 69 (1978): 27-51.

[23:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “meet” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[23:4]  ¹⁸ tn The construction uses the imperfect tense (taken here as an obligatory imperfect) and the infinitive absolute for emphasis.

[26:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “one” (so KJV).

[26:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “twenty-eight cubits” long and “four cubits” wide.

[19:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “listen to my voice.” The construction uses the imperfect tense in the conditional clause, preceded by the infinitive absolute from the same verb. The idiom “listen to the voice of” implies obedience, not just mental awareness of sound.

[19:5]  ²² tn The verb is a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the idea in the protasis of the sentence: “and [if you will] keep.”

[19:5]  ²³ tn The lamed preposition expresses possession here: “to me” means “my.”

[19:5]  ²⁴ tn The noun is סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah), which means a special possession. Israel was to be God’s special possession, but the prophets will later narrow it to the faithful remnant. All the nations belong to God, but Israel was to stand in a place of special privilege and enormous responsibility. See Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Ps 135:4; and Mal 3:17. See M. Greenburg, “Hebrew sÿgulla: Akkadian sikiltu,” JAOS 71 (1951): 172ff.

[19:6]  ²⁵ tn Or “for me” (NIV, NRSV), or, if the lamed (ל) preposition has a possessive use, “my kingdom” (so NCV).

[19:6]  ²⁶ tn The construction “a kingdom of priests” means that the kingdom is made up of priests. W. C. Kaiser (“Exodus,” EBC 2:417) offers four possible renderings of the expression: 1) apposition, viz., “kings, that is, priests; 2) as a construct with a genitive of specification, “royal priesthood”; 3) as a construct with the genitive being the attribute, “priestly kingdom”; and 4) reading with an unexpressed “and” – “kings and priests.” He takes the latter view that they were to be kings and priests. (Other references are R. B. Y. Scott, “A Kingdom of Priests (Exodus xix. 6),” OTS 8 [1950]: 213-19; William L. Moran, “A Kingdom of Priests,” The Bible in Current Catholic Thought, 7-20). However, due to the parallelism of the next description which uses an adjective, this is probably a construct relationship. This kingdom of God will be composed of a priestly people. All the Israelites would be living wholly in God’s service and enjoying the right of access to him. And, as priests, they would have the duty of representing God to the nations, following what they perceived to be the duties of priests – proclaiming God’s word, interceding for people, and making provision for people to find God through atonement (see Deut 33:9,10).

[19:6]  ²⁷ tn They are also to be “a holy nation.” They are to be a nation separate and distinct from the rest of the nations. Here is another aspect of their duty. It was one thing to be God’s special possession, but to be that they had to be priestly and holy. The duties of the covenant will specify what it would mean to be a holy nation. In short, they had to keep themselves free from everything that characterized pagan people (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 171). So it is a bilateral covenant: they received special privileges but they must provide special services by the special discipline. See also H. Kruse, “Exodus 19:5 and the Mission of Israel,” North East Asian Journal of Theology 24/25 (1980): 239-42.

[19:8]  ²⁸ tn The verb is an imperfect. The people are not being presumptuous in stating their compliance – there are several options open for the interpretation of this tense. It may be classified as having a desiderative nuance: “we are willing to do” or, “we will do.”

[19:9]  ²⁹ tn The construction uses the deictic particle and the participle to express the imminent future, what God was about to do. Here is the first announcement of the theophany.

[19:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the thickness of the cloud”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT “in a thick cloud.”

[19:9]  ³¹ tn Since “and also in you” begins the clause, the emphasis must be that the people would also trust Moses. See Exod 4:1-9, 31; 14:31.

[19:10]  ³² tn This verb is a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the force of the imperative preceding it. This sanctification would be accomplished by abstaining from things that would make them defiled or unclean, and then by ritual washings and ablutions.

[19:10]  ³³ tn The form is a perfect 3cpl with a vav (ו) consecutive. It is instructional as well, but now in the third person it is like a jussive, “let them wash, make them wash.”

[82:2]  ³⁴ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to indicate that the following speech is God’s judicial decision (see v. 1).

[82:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and the face of the wicked lift up.”

[82:3]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9). Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 10:14; 68:5; 94:6; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).

[13:1]  ³⁷ tn Grk “by God.”

[13:2]  ³⁸ tn Grk “the authority,” referring to the authority just described.

[13:5]  ³⁹ tn Grk “its wrath”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “because of (the) conscience,” but the English possessive “your” helps to show whose conscience the context implies.

[13:6]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ⁴² tn Grk “devoted to this very thing.”