Deuteronomy 17:8 Cross References - NSB

⁸ »If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you should go to the place Jehovah your God chooses.

²⁶ They judged the people on a permanent basis. The difficult cases were taken to Moses but they decided the smaller disputes themselves.

¹² »Death is the punishment for murder. ¹³ »If you did not intend to kill someone and I, Jehovah, let it happen anyway, you may run for safety to a place that I have set aside. ¹⁴ »If a man schemes and kills a man deliberately remove him from my altar and put him to death.

²⁰ »If a slave owner takes a stick and beats his slave, whether male or female, and the slave dies on the spot, the owner is to be punished.

²² »When a pregnant woman suffers a miscarriage as the result of an injury caused by someone who is fighting, if she is not badly hurt, the one who injured her must pay whatever fine her husband demands and the judges approve.

²⁸ »If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished.

² »If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guiltiness on his account.

¹¹ select certain cities to be places of refuge. Anyone who unintentionally kills another person may run to them.

¹⁶ »If any of you uses an iron weapon to kill another person, you are a murderer. Murderers must be put to death.

¹⁹ »The relative who can avenge the death must make sure a murderer is put to death. When he catches up with the murderer, he must kill him. ²⁰ »If any of you kills someone you hate by shoving him or by deliberately throwing something at him, ²¹ or if you beat your enemy to death with your bare hands, you must be put to death. You are a murderer. The relative who can avenge the death must kill you when he catches up with you, because you are a murderer. ²² »Should you accidentally kill someone who was not your enemy. Maybe you shoved him or threw something at him but did not mean to kill him. ²³ »Or if you drop a big stone, and someone is killed. However, you did not know the person was there, he was not your enemy, and you were not trying to harm him. ²⁴ »Then the community must use these rules in order to decide if you are innocent or if the dead person’s relative can avenge the death. ²⁵ »If you are innocent, the community must protect you from that relative. They must take you back to the city of refuge you fled to. You must live there until the death of the chief priest who was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶ »But do not go outside the city of refuge you fled to. ²⁷ »If the relative who can avenge the death finds you outside the city of refuge and kills you, the relative is not guilty of murder. ²⁸ »Accused murderers must stay in their city of refuge until the death of the chief priest. They may go back to their own property only after his death. ²⁹ »These rules apply to you and your descendants wherever you may live. ³⁰ »Those accused of murder may be found guilty and put to death only on the evidence of two or more witnesses. The evidence of one witness is not sufficient to support an accusation of murder. ³¹ »Murderers must be put to death. They cannot escape this penalty by the payment of money. ³² »If they have fled to a city of refuge, do not allow them to make a payment in order to return home before the death of the High Priest. ³³ »If you did this, you would defile the land where you are living. Murder defiles the land, and except by the death of the murderer there is no way to perform the ritual of purification for the land where someone has been murdered. ³⁴ »Do not defile the land where you are living! I am Jehovah and I live among the people of Israel.«

¹⁷ »You will not show partiality in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great. You will not fear man for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’

⁵ »You should seek Jehovah at the place Jehovah your God chooses out of all your tribes. This is where he will dwell and establish his name. This is where you should go.

⁴ »A person who unintentionally kills someone he never hated in the past may run to one of these cities to save his life.

¹⁰ »Innocent blood will not be shed in your land that Jehovah your God gives you as an inheritance. Blood guiltiness will not be on you. ¹¹ »But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and murders him. If he flees to one of these cities,

¹⁷ »The two people involved must stand in Jehovah’s presence, in front of the priests and judges who are serving at that time.

¹⁶ One day two women who were prostitutes came to the king. ¹⁷ One of them said: »Your Majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby boy at home while she was there. ¹⁸ »Two days after my child was born she also gave birth to a baby boy. Only the two of us were there in the house. No one else was there. ¹⁹ »One night she accidentally rolled over on her baby and smothered it. ²⁰ »She got up during the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She took him to her bed and put the dead child in my bed. ²¹ »The next morning I woke up and was going to nurse my baby. It was dead. I looked at it more closely and saw that it was not my child.« ²² The other woman said: »The living child is mine, and the dead one is yours!« The first woman answered back: »The dead child is yours, and the living one is mine!« They argued before the king. ²³ King Solomon said: »Each of you claims that the living child is hers and that the dead child belongs to the other one.« ²⁴ He sent for a sword. When it arrived, ²⁵ he said: »Cut the living child in two and give each woman half of it.« ²⁶ With a heart full of love for her son the real mother said: »Please, Your Majesty, do not kill the child! Give it to her!« But the other woman said: »Do not give it to either of us cut it in two.« ²⁷ Then Solomon said: »Do not kill the child! Give it to the first woman. She is the real mother.« ²⁸ The people of Israel heard of Solomon's decision and were all filled with deep respect for him. They knew then that God had given him the wisdom to settle disputes fairly.

⁸ Jehoshaphat also appointed some Levites, some priests, and some of the family leaders to serve as judges in Jerusalem. ⁹ He told them: »Faithfully serve Jehovah! ¹⁰ »Warn your relatives living in other cities about every case they bring to you, even if the case involves bloodshed or commandments, rules, or regulations derived from the law. Then your relatives will not become guilty in front of Jehovah. Otherwise, he will become angry with you and your relatives. Do this and you will not be guilty of anything.

⁴ All of Jehovah’s tribes go to that city because it is a law in Israel to give thanks to the name of Jehovah. ⁵ The court of justice sits there. It consists of princes who are David's descendants.

¹¹ He said: »Ask the priests for a ruling on this question of law.

⁷ »The priests should teach the true knowledge of God. They are the messengers of Jehovah of Hosts. Therefore the people should learn (my will) the law from them.