⁵¹ “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

¹⁷ Do not show partiality^(A) in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone,^(B) for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.”^(C)

³ Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!^(A) You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”^(B)

Law Courts

⁸ If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge^(A)—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults^(B)—take them to the place the Lord your God will choose.^{(C) 9} Go to the Levitical^(D) priests and to the judge^(E) who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.^{(F) 10} You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. ¹¹ Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.^(G)

Witnesses

¹⁵ One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.^(A)

¹⁶ If a malicious witness^(B) takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, ¹⁷ the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges^(C) who are in office at the time. ¹⁸ The judges must make a thorough investigation,^(D) and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, ¹⁹ then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party.^(E) You must purge the evil from among you.

⁶ On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.^(A)