and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. I will subdue all your enemies. “‘“I declare to you that the Lord will build a dynastic house ¹  for you!

He told the judges, “Be careful what you do, ¹  for you are not judging for men, but for the Lord, who will be with you when you make judicial decisions.

For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not acquitted because of this. The one who judges me is the Lord.

So if you have ordinary lawsuits, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church? ¹ 

In all cases of illegal possessions, ¹  whether for an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any kind of lost item, about which someone says ‘This belongs to me,’ ²  the matter of the two of them will come before the judges, ³  and the one whom ⁴  the judges declare guilty ⁵  must repay double to his neighbor.

Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. ¹  He who speaks against a fellow believer ²  or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge. ³ 

And if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s work, live out the time of your temporary residence here ¹  in reverence.

For this reason, she will experience her plagues ¹  in a single day: disease, ²  mourning, ³  and famine, and she will be burned down ⁴  with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is powerful!”

Then ¹  I saw heaven opened and here came ²  a white horse! The ³  one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice ⁴  he judges and goes to war.

“You must not blaspheme ¹  God ²  or curse the ruler of your people.

For our enemies’ ¹  rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.

then this ¹  also would be iniquity to be judged, ²  for I would have been false ³  to God above.

The Lord judges the nations. ¹  Vindicate me, Lord, because I am innocent, ²  because I am blameless, ³  O Exalted One! ⁴ 

During the time of the judges ¹  there was a famine in the land of Judah. ²  So a man from Bethlehem ³  in Judah went to live as a resident foreigner ⁴  in the region of Moab, along with his wife and two sons. ⁵ 

“Now you, Ezra, in keeping with the wisdom of your God which you possess, ¹  appoint judges ²  and court officials who can arbitrate cases on behalf of all the people who are in Trans-Euphrates who know the laws of your God. Those who do not know this law should be taught.

Let our leaders take steps ¹  on behalf of all the assembly. Let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at an appointed time, and with them the elders of each town and its judges, until the hot anger of our God is turned away from us in this matter.”

If the thief is not caught, ¹  then the owner of the house will be brought before the judges ²  to see ³  whether he has laid ⁴  his hand on his neighbor’s goods.

Wherever I moved throughout Israel, I did not say ¹  to any of the leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel, ²  ‘Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?’”’

From ¹  Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues – the judges, the rulers, the officials, the secretaries, the Erechites, the Babylonians, the people of Susa (that is, ²  the Elamites),

But they did not obey ¹  their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped ²  them. They quickly turned aside from the path ³  their ancestors ⁴  had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. ⁵