Deuteronomy 16:18

Provision for Justice

16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants ¹  for each tribe in all your villages ²  that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. ³ 

Deuteronomy 17:15

17:15 you must select without fail ⁴  a king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens ⁵  you must appoint a king – you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites. ⁶ 

Deuteronomy 21:16

21:16 In the day he divides his inheritance ⁷  he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other ⁸  wife’s son who is actually the firstborn.

Deuteronomy 28:36

28:36 The Lord will force you and your king ⁹  whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.

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¹ tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.

² tn Heb “gates.”

³ tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”

⁴ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “without fail.”

⁵ tn Heb “your brothers,” but not referring to siblings (cf. NIV “your brother Israelites”; NLT “a fellow Israelite”). The same phrase also occurs in v. 20.

⁶ tn Heb “your brothers.” See the preceding note on “fellow citizens.”

⁷ tn Heb “when he causes his sons to inherit what is his.”

⁸ tn Heb “the hated.”

⁹ tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”