Deuteronomy 17:8

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Appeal to a Higher Court If a matter is too difficult for you to judge– bloodshed, legal claim, or assault– matters of controversy in your villages– you must leave there and go up to the place the LORD your God chooses.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Deut 12:5 : 5 But you must seek only the place he chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, and you must go there.
  • Hag 2:11 : 11 “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has said,‘Ask the priests about the law.
  • Mal 2:7 : 7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him because he is the messenger of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
  • Deut 19:4 : 4 Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, if he has accidentally killed another without hating him at the time of the accident.
  • Deut 19:10-11 : 10 You must not shed innocent blood in your land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. 11 However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, and then flees to one of these cities.
  • Deut 19:17 : 17 then both parties to the controversy must stand before the LORD, that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days.
  • 1 Kgs 3:16-28 : 16 Solomon Demonstrates His Wisdom Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of the women said,“My master, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was with me in the house. 18 Then three days after I had my baby, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one else in the house except the two of us. 19 This woman’s child suffocated during the night when she rolled on top of him. 20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your servant was sleeping. She put him in her arms, and put her dead son in my arms. 21 I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there he was, dead! But when I examined him carefully in the morning, I realized it was not my baby.” 22 The other woman said,“No! My son is alive; your son is dead!” But the first woman replied,“No, your son is dead; my son is alive.” Each presented her case before the king. 23 The king said,“One says,‘My son is alive; your son is dead,’ while the other says,‘No, your son is dead; my son is alive.’” 24 The king ordered,“Get me a sword!” So they placed a sword before the king. 25 The king then said,“Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other!” 26 The real mother spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused. She said,“My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don’t kill him!” But the other woman said,“Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!” 27 The king responded,“Give the first woman the living child; don’t kill him. She is the mother.” 28 When all Israel heard about the judicial decision which the king had rendered, they respected the king, for they realized that he possessed divine wisdom to make judicial decisions.
  • 2 Chr 19:8-9 : 8 In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed some Levites, priests, and Israelite family leaders to judge on behalf of the LORD and to settle disputes among the residents of Jerusalem. 9 He commanded them:“Carry out your duties with respect for the LORD, with honesty, and with pure motives. 10 Whenever your countrymen who live in the cities bring a case before you(whether it involves a violent crime or other matters related to the law, commandments, rules, and regulations), warn them that they must not sin against the LORD. If you fail to do so, God will be angry with you and your colleagues, but if you obey, you will be free of guilt.
  • Ps 122:4-5 : 4 The tribes go up there, the tribes of the LORD, where it is required that Israel give thanks to the name of the LORD. 5 Indeed, the leaders sit there on thrones and make legal decisions, on the thrones of the house of David.
  • Exod 18:26 : 26 They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.
  • Exod 21:12-14 : 12 Personal Injuries“Whoever strikes someone so that he dies must surely be put to death. 13 But if he does not do it with premeditation, but it happens by accident, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee. 14 But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, you will take him even from my altar that he may die.
  • Exod 21:20 : 20 “If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she dies as a result of the blow, he will surely be punished.
  • Exod 21:22 : 22 “If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no serious injury, he will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides.
  • Exod 21:28 : 28 Laws about Animals“If an ox gores a man or a woman so that either dies, then the ox must surely be stoned and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be acquitted.
  • Exod 22:2 : 2 “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him.
  • Num 35:11 : 11 you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee.
  • Num 35:16 : 16 “But if he hits someone with an iron tool so that he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death.
  • Num 35:19-34 : 19 The avenger of blood himself must kill the murderer; when he meets him, he must kill him. 20 “But if he strikes him out of hatred or throws something at him intentionally so that he dies, 21 or with enmity he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death, for he is a murderer. The avenger of blood must kill the murderer when he meets him. 22 “But if he strikes him suddenly, without enmity, or throws anything at him unintentionally, 23 or with any stone large enough that a man could die, without seeing him, and throws it at him, and he dies, even though he was not his enemy nor sought his harm, 24 then the community must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these decisions. 25 The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil. 26 But if the slayer at any time goes outside the boundary of the town to which he had fled, 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the town of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, he will not be guilty of blood, 28 because the slayer should have stayed in his town of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to the land of his possessions. 29 So these things must be a statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations, in all the places where you live. 30 “Whoever kills any person, the murderer must be put to death by the testimony of witnesses, but one witness cannot testify against any person to cause him to be put to death. 31 Moreover, you must not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; he must surely be put to death. 32 And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. 33 “You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it. 34 Therefore do not defile the land that you will inhabit, in which I live, for I the LORD live among the Israelites.”
  • Deut 1:17 : 17 They must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly 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.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Deut 17:9-11
    3 verses
    84%

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

    10You must then do as they have determined at that place the LORD chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught.

    11You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you.

  • Deut 19:17-18
    2 verses
    78%

    17then both parties to the controversy must stand before the LORD, that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days.

    18The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused,

  • Deut 1:16-17
    2 verses
    76%

    16I furthermore admonished your judges at that time that they should pay attention to issues among your fellow citizens and judge fairly, whether between one person and a native Israelite or a resident foreigner.

    17They must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly 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.

  • Deut 16:18
    75%

    18Provision for Justice You must appoint judges and civil servants for each tribe in all your villages that the LORD your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly.

  • Deut 25:1
    75%

    1If controversy arises between people, they should go to court for judgment. When the judges hear the case, they shall exonerate the innocent but condemn the guilty.

  • 2 Chr 19:10
    74%

    10Whenever your countrymen who live in the cities bring a case before you(whether it involves a violent crime or other matters related to the law, commandments, rules, and regulations), warn them that they must not sin against the LORD. If you fail to do so, God will be angry with you and your colleagues, but if you obey, you will be free of guilt.

  • 2 Chr 19:8
    74%

    8In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed some Levites, priests, and Israelite family leaders to judge on behalf of the LORD and to settle disputes among the residents of Jerusalem.

  • Deut 21:5
    74%

    5Then the Levitical priests will approach(for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, and to decide every judicial verdict)

  • Exod 18:22-23
    2 verses
    73%

    22They will judge the people under normal circumstances, and every difficult case they will bring to you, but every small case they themselves will judge, so that you may make it easier for yourself, and they will bear the burden with you.

    23If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will be able to go home satisfied.”

  • Deut 14:24-25
    2 verses
    73%

    24When he blesses you, if the place where he chooses to locate his name is distant,

    25you may convert the tithe into money, secure the money, and travel to the place the LORD your God chooses for himself.

  • Deut 17:7
    73%

    7The witnesses must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

  • 2 Chr 19:6
    72%

    6He told the judges,“Be careful what you do, for you are not judging for men, but for the LORD, who will be with you when you make judicial decisions.

  • Deut 18:6
    72%

    6Suppose a Levite comes by his own free will from one of your villages, from any part of Israel where he is living, to the place the LORD chooses

  • Deut 21:2
    72%

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

  • Exod 18:16
    72%

    16When they have a dispute, it comes to me and I decide between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.”

  • Josh 20:4
    71%

    4The one who committed manslaughter should escape to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and present his case to the leaders of that city. They should then bring him into the city, give him a place to stay, and let him live there.

  • Isa 3:13
    71%

    13The LORD takes his position to judge; he stands up to pass sentence on his people.

  • Num 35:24
    71%

    24then the community must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these decisions.

  • Deut 12:5
    71%

    5But you must seek only the place he chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, and you must go there.

  • Deut 16:20
    71%

    20You must pursue justice alone so that you may live and inherit the land the LORD your God is giving you.

  • Deut 19:2-3
    2 verses
    71%

    2you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the LORD your God is giving you as a possession.

    3You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the LORD your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities.

  • Deut 17:2
    70%

    2Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you– in one of your villages that the LORD your God is giving you– who sins before the Lord your God and breaks his covenant

  • Deut 31:11
    70%

    11when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place he chooses, you must read this law before them within their hearing.

  • Deut 12:11
    70%

    11Then you must come to the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing everything I am commanding you– your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him.

  • Jer 7:5
    70%

    5You must change the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly.

  • Exod 21:1
    70%

    1The Decisions“These are the decisions that you will set before them:

  • Deut 13:12
    70%

    12Punishment of Community Idolatry Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you as a place to live, that

  • 1 Cor 6:1
    70%

    1Lawsuits When any of you has a legal dispute with another, does he dare go to court before the unrighteous rather than before the saints?

  • Deut 19:12-13
    2 verses
    70%

    12The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger to die.

    13You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

  • Luke 12:58
    69%

    58As you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.

  • Exod 18:19
    69%

    19Now listen to me, I will give you advice, and may God be with you: You be a representative for the people to God, and you bring their disputes to God;

  • Deut 12:26
    69%

    26Only the holy things and votive offerings that belong to you, you must pick up and take to the place the LORD will choose.

  • Mic 6:1
    69%

    1The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual Listen to what the LORD says:“Get up! Defend yourself before the mountains! Present your case before the hills!”

  • Deut 12:14
    69%

    14for you may do so only in the place the LORD chooses in one of your tribal areas– there you may do everything I am commanding you.

  • Deut 17:5
    69%

    5you must bring to your city gates that man or woman who has done this wicked thing– that very man or woman– and you must stone that person to death.

  • Exod 18:26
    69%

    26They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

  • Isa 28:6
    69%

    6He will give discernment to the one who makes judicial decisions, and strength to those who defend the city from attackers.

  • Acts 19:39
    69%

    39But if you want anything in addition, it will have to be settled in a legal assembly.

  • Jer 17:19
    69%

    19Observance of the Sabbath Day Is a Key to the Future The LORD told me,“Go and stand in the People’s Gate through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem.

  • 1 Kgs 8:31-32
    2 verses
    69%

    31“When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false.

    32Listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants’ claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve.

  • Deut 19:7
    69%

    7Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.