Judges, Kings and War
Sefer Shofetim, the Book of Judges · commandments 540–613
← Wages, Loans and Inheritance · The Commandments: all subjects · Index by verse →
The courts and their justice, witnesses, the authority of the judges and of parents, mourning, the king, and the conduct of war.
On this page: The Courts and Their Penalties (540–569) · Witnesses (570–577) · Authority, Parents and the Rebellious Son (578–586) · Mourning (587–590) · Kings and Their Wars (591–613)
The Courts and Their Penalties
Sanhedrin · 30 commandments
540. To appoint judges and officers in all your gates. DO
Appoint judges and recording officials in all your cities that the Lord your God is giving you, tribe by tribe, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
Deuteronomy 16:18
541. Not to show partiality in judgment. DO NOT
Do not show partiality in judgment. Judge the small and the great alike. Do not shrink back before anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.
Deuteronomy 1:17
542. To follow the majority in judgment, as the tradition derives from this verse. DO
You shall not join the majority in evil, or join a multitude in turning aside with the majority so as to exclude justice.
Exodus 23:2
543. Not to follow the many to do evil. DO NOT — the same verse, Exodus 23:2
544. Not to answer in a dispute so as to turn aside after the many. DO NOT — the same verse, Exodus 23:2
545. The court is to carry out the penalty of stoning. DO
bring both to the gate of their city, and they shall be stoned to death: the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. Remove the evil person from among yourselves.
Deuteronomy 22:24
546. The court is to carry out the penalty of burning. DO
If anyone takes a woman and her mother, it is a lawless deed. They shall burn him and them with fire, so that there may be no lawlessness among you.
Leviticus 20:14
547. The court is to carry out the penalty of the sword. DO
If anyone strikes his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies under his hands, the death shall be avenged by justice.
Exodus 21:20
548. The court is to carry out the death penalty for adultery. DO
If a man commits adultery with a man’s wife, or commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.
Leviticus 20:10
549. To hang the body of one put to death. DO
If someone has committed an offense deserving a death sentence, dies, and you hang him on a tree,
Deuteronomy 21:22
550. To bury him that same day. DO
his body shall not remain on the tree overnight. Bury him that same day, for everyone hanging on a tree is cursed by God. Do not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an allotment.
Deuteronomy 21:23
551. His body is not to remain all night on the tree. DO NOT — the same verse, Deuteronomy 21:23
552. Not to let a sorceress live. DO NOT
You shall not preserve sorcerers alive.
Exodus 22:17
553. The court is to have the guilty man beaten according to his offense. DO
If the impious man deserves lashes, you shall seat him before the judges, and they shall scourge him before them with a counted number proportionate to his impiety.
Deuteronomy 25:2
554. Not to exceed forty stripes. DO NOT
They shall give him forty lashes, but no more. If they add further lashes beyond these, your brother will be disgraced before you.
Deuteronomy 25:3
555. Not to kill the innocent and the righteous. DO NOT
Keep away from every unjust charge. Do not kill the innocent or righteous, and do not acquit the ungodly for the sake of bribes.
Exodus 23:7
556. Not to punish one who was forced. DO NOT
Do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense deserving death. This case is like a man rising against his neighbor and murdering him.
Deuteronomy 22:26
557. Your eye is not to pity the murderer. DO NOT
Let your eye show him no pity. Cleanse the guilt of innocent bloodshed from Israel, and it shall go well with you.
Deuteronomy 19:13
558. Not to be partial to the poor in judgment. DO NOT
You shall do no injustice in judgment. Do not favor the poor or admire the powerful; judge your neighbor in righteousness.
Leviticus 19:15
559. Not to defer to the great in judgment. DO NOT — the same verse, Leviticus 19:15
560. Not to pervert the justice due to your poor. DO NOT
You shall not pervert a poor person’s judgment in his dispute.
Exodus 23:6
561. Not to do injustice in judgment. DO NOT
You shall do no injustice in judgment. Do not favor the poor or admire the powerful; judge your neighbor in righteousness.
Leviticus 19:15
562. Not to pervert the justice due to the sojourner or the fatherless. DO NOT
Do not pervert the justice due a resident foreigner, an orphan, or a widow, and do not take a widow’s garment as a pledge.
Deuteronomy 24:17
563. To judge your neighbor in righteousness. DO — Christ’s teaching: 15, 25
You shall do no injustice in judgment. Do not favor the poor or admire the powerful; judge your neighbor in righteousness.
Leviticus 19:15
564. Not to be afraid of any man in judgment. DO NOT
Do not show partiality in judgment. Judge the small and the great alike. Do not shrink back before anyone, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.
Deuteronomy 1:17
565. Not to take a bribe. DO NOT
You shall not accept gifts, for gifts blind the eyes of those who see and corrupt righteous words.
Exodus 23:8
566. Not to take up a false report. DO NOT
You shall not accept an empty report. Do not agree with an unjust person to become an unjust witness.
Exodus 23:1
567. Not to revile the judges. DO NOT
You shall not revile gods or speak evil of rulers among your people.
Exodus 22:27
568. Not to curse a ruler of your people. DO NOT — the same verse, Exodus 22:27
569. Not to curse the deaf. DO NOT
You shall not speak evil of the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear the Lord your God. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:14
Witnesses
Edut · 8 commandments
570. One who has seen or known is to testify. DO
If anyone sins and hears a solemn adjuration, and he is a witness, having seen or known the matter, if he does not report it, he shall bear the sin.
Leviticus 5:1
571. To inquire, search out and ask diligently. DO
then question and investigate thoroughly. If the report is clearly true, and this abomination has occurred among you,
Deuteronomy 13:15
572. One witness is not to testify against a person for death. DO NOT
In every case of a person being struck down, you shall put the killer to death through witnesses. A single witness shall not testify against a person so as to cause his death.
Numbers 35:30
573. A single witness is not to stand against a man. DO NOT — Christ’s teaching: 53
A single witness shall not suffice to testify against anyone concerning any injustice, offense, or sin he commits. Every matter shall be established on the testimony of two witnesses and three witnesses.
Deuteronomy 19:15
574. Not to join hands with the wicked to be a malicious witness. DO NOT
You shall not accept an empty report. Do not agree with an unjust person to become an unjust witness.
Exodus 23:1
575. Fathers are not to be put to death for sons, understood also of the testimony of kin. DO NOT
Fathers shall not die for children, and sons shall not die for fathers. Each shall die for his own sin.
Deuteronomy 24:16
576. Not to bear false witness. DO NOT — Christ’s teaching: 19
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Exodus 20:16
577. To do to the false witness as he meant to do to his brother. DO
then do to him as he wickedly planned to do against his brother.Remove the evil person from among yourselves.
Deuteronomy 19:19
Authority, Parents and the Rebellious Son
Mamrim · 9 commandments
578. To do according to the ruling they declare to you. DO
Act according to the law and the judgment they tell you. Do not turn right or left from the decision they declare to you.
Deuteronomy 17:11
579. Not to turn aside from that ruling to the right or to the left. DO NOT — the same verse, Deuteronomy 17:11
580. Not to add to the commandments. DO NOT — Christ’s teaching: 1
Take care to do every word I command you today. Do not add to it or take away from it.
Deuteronomy 13:1
581. Not to take away from them. DO NOT — the same verse, Deuteronomy 13:1 — Christ’s teaching: 1
582. Not to curse your father or your mother. DO NOT — Christ’s teaching: 16
Whoever reviles his father or his mother shall surely die.
Exodus 21:16
583. Not to strike your father or your mother. DO NOT
Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
Exodus 21:15
584. To honor your father and your mother. DO — Christ’s teaching: 16, 19
“Honor your father and your mother, so that it may go well with you and you may live long on the good land the Lord your God is giving you.
Exodus 20:12
585. To revere your mother and your father. DO
Each shall revere his father and his mother, and you shall keep My Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:3
586. Not to be a stubborn and rebellious son. DO NOT
If someone has a disobedient and provocative son who will not obey his father or mother, and they discipline him but he still will not listen,
Deuteronomy 21:18
Mourning
Avel · 4 commandments
587. To mourn for one’s dead, as the tradition derives from Aaron’s mourning. DO
Aaron said to Moses: If today they have presented their offerings for sin and their whole burnt offerings before the Lord, and these things have happened to me, shall I eat the offerings for sin today? Would it be acceptable to the Lord?
Leviticus 10:19
588. The high priest must not make himself unclean for any of the dead. DO NOT
He shall not enter where there is any dead person; he shall not make himself unclean even for his father or mother.
Leviticus 21:11
589. The high priest must not go in where there is a dead body. DO NOT — the same verse, Leviticus 21:11
590. A priest must not make himself unclean for the dead, except for his nearest kin. DO NOT
The Lord said to Moses, saying: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: They shall not defile themselves for dead persons among their nation,
Leviticus 21:1
Kings and Their Wars
Melakhim u-Milchamot · 23 commandments
591. To set a king over you whom the Lord chooses. DO
you shall surely appoint over you a ruler whom the Lord your God chooses. Appoint a ruler over you from your brothers; you may not appoint a foreign person over you, because he is not your brother.
Deuteronomy 17:15
592. Not to set a foreigner over you. DO NOT — the same verse, Deuteronomy 17:15
593. The king must not multiply wives. DO NOT
He shall not multiply wives for himself, nor shall his heart turn aside; he shall not greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
Deuteronomy 17:17
594. The king must not multiply horses. DO NOT
For he shall not multiply cavalry for himself or send the people back to Egypt to multiply cavalry for himself. The Lord said: You shall never return by this way again.
Deuteronomy 17:16
595. The king must not greatly multiply silver and gold. DO NOT
He shall not multiply wives for himself, nor shall his heart turn aside; he shall not greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
Deuteronomy 17:17
596. To devote to destruction the seven nations of Canaan. DO
Devote them completely to destruction: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, and Girgashites, as the Lord your God commanded you,
Deuteronomy 20:17
597. Not to leave alive anything that breathes among them. DO NOT
but look: from the cities of these nations whose land the Lord your God gives you to inherit, take nothing that breathes alive.
Deuteronomy 20:16
598. To blot out the memory of Amalek. DO
When the Lord your God gives you rest from all surrounding enemies in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an allotment to inherit, erase Amalek’s name from under heaven. Do not forget.
Deuteronomy 25:19
599. To remember what Amalek did. DO
Remember what Amalek did to you on the road when you came out of Egypt,
Deuteronomy 25:17
600. Not to forget. DO NOT
When the Lord your God gives you rest from all surrounding enemies in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an allotment to inherit, erase Amalek’s name from under heaven. Do not forget.
Deuteronomy 25:19
601. Not to return to Egypt to dwell there. DO NOT
For he shall not multiply cavalry for himself or send the people back to Egypt to multiply cavalry for himself. The Lord said: You shall never return by this way again.
Deuteronomy 17:16
602. To offer terms of peace to a city before fighting against it. DO
If you approach a city to wage war against it, call its people out with an offer of peace.
Deuteronomy 20:10
603. Not to seek the peace or the prosperity of Ammon and Moab. DO NOT
Do not address them with words of peace or advantage all your days, forever.
Deuteronomy 23:7
604. Not to destroy fruit trees in a siege. DO NOT
If you surround a city for many days, fighting to capture it, do not destroy its trees by bringing iron against them. You may eat from them; do not cut them down. Is the tree in the field a human being, to enter the siege-works before you?
Deuteronomy 20:19
605. To have a place outside the camp. DO
Have a place outside the camp where you may go out.
Deuteronomy 23:13
606. To have a tool with your equipment to cover what comes from you. DO
Have a peg on your belt. When you squat outside, dig with it, then bring the earth over and cover your unseemliness with it.
Deuteronomy 23:14
607. The priest is to come forward and speak to the people before battle. DO
When you draw near to battle, the priest shall approach and speak to the people.
Deuteronomy 20:2
608. A newly married man is to be free at home one year. DO
If a man has recently taken a wife, he shall not go out to war or have any duty imposed on him. He shall be exempt at home for one year and bring joy to the wife he has taken.
Deuteronomy 24:5
609. He is not to go out with the army or be charged with any duty. DO NOT — the same verse, Deuteronomy 24:5
610. Not to fear or panic before the enemy. DO NOT
He shall say to them: Hear, Israel! Today you are advancing into battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart; do not fear, be broken, or turn aside before them,
Deuteronomy 20:3
611. To keep the law of the captive woman. DO
and you see among the spoil a woman beautiful in appearance, set your mind on her, and take her for yourself as a wife,
Deuteronomy 21:11
612. Not to sell her for money. DO NOT
If you no longer want her, send her away free. She must not be sold for silver, and you must not treat her with contempt, because you have humiliated her.
Deuteronomy 21:14
613. Not to treat her with contempt. DO NOT — the same verse, Deuteronomy 21:14
← Wages, Loans and Inheritance · The Commandments: all subjects · Index by verse →
Saints Translation · The Commandments · the traditional count of 613 after Maimonides; statements in our own words; verses quoted from the Saints Translation · working draft awaiting specialist review.