If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.
Parallel translations
- WEB If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses.
- KJV 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;
- NKJV “If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses.
- NASB “If a 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, that are cases of dispute in your courts, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses.
- NLT “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,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Cases too difficult for local judges were to be taken to God's chosen place. God provided a higher court for hard matters.
Overview
When disputes over bloodshed, legal rights, or assault proved too complex for local courts, they were referred to the central sanctuary. This established a system of appeal grounded in God's presence. It reflects God's care that justice be done rightly even in hard cases, and points to the perfect judgment found in him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Deut 12:5Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
- Hag 2:11“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Ask the priests for a ruling.
- Deut 1:17Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.”
- Num 35:19–34The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him.
- Exod 21:20If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished.
- Num 35:11designate cities to serve as your cities of refuge, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.
- Num 35:16If, however, anyone strikes a person with an iron object and kills him, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.
- Deut 19:4Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:
- Exod 21:28If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall not be held responsible.
- 1 Kgs 3:16–28At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
- Ps 122:4–5where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
- Exod 21:12–14Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.
- Deut 19:17both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.
- Exod 22:2If a thief is caught breaking in and is beaten to death, no one shall be guilty of bloodshed.
- 2 Chr 19:8–10Moreover, Jehoshaphat appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites, priests, and heads of the Israelite families to judge on behalf of the LORD and to settle disputes. And they lived in Jerusalem.
- Exod 18:26And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but any minor issue they would judge themselves.
- Exod 21:22If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows.
- Mal 2:7For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
- Deut 19:10–11Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 17:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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