⁸ “^(A)If a case is too difficult for you to decide, between ^[a]one kind of homicide or another, between ^[b]one kind of lawsuit or another, and between ^[c]one kind of assault or another, that are cases of dispute in your ^[d]courts, then you shall arise and go up to ^(B)the place which the Lord your God chooses. ⁹ So you shall come to ^(C)the Levitical priests or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the ^[e]verdict.

¹⁷ then both people who have the dispute shall stand ^(A)before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days.

⁵ Then ^(A)the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, because the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; and every dispute and ^[a]violent crime shall be ^[b]settled by them.

⁴ Of these, twenty-four thousand were ^(A)to oversee the work of the house of the Lord; and six thousand were ^(B)officers and judges,

⁸ In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat also appointed some ^(A)of the Levites and priests, and some of the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and ^[a]to judge disputes among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁹ Then he commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and wholeheartedly. ^10 (B)Whenever any dispute comes to you from your countrymen who live in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, you shall warn them so that they will not be guilty before the Lord, and ^(C)wrath will not come on you and your countrymen. This you shall do and you will not be guilty.