And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

And thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race, and to the judge, that shall be at that time: and thou shalt ask of them, and they shall shew thee the truth of the judgment.

And thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall declare unto thee the sentence of judgment;

and hast come in unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge who is in those days, and hast inquired, and they have declared to thee the word of judgment,

And come before the priests, the Levites, or before him who is judge at the time: and they will go into the question and give you a decision:

And you shall approach the priests of the Levitical stock, and the judge, who shall be among them at that time, and you shall inquire of them, and they will reveal to you the truth of the judgment.

Et venies ad sacerdotes, Levitas, et ad judicem qui fuerit in diebus illis, et quaeres, et indicabunt tibi verbum judicii.

And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the (f) judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:
(f) Who will sentence as the priests counsel him by the Law of God.

Thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites,.... The priests that are of the tribe of Levi, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi; for Aben Ezra says there are priests that are not of the genealogy of Levi; such there were indeed in Jeroboam's time, 1-Kings 12:31. Maimonides (f) observes, that it is ordered that there should be in the great sanhedrim priests and Levites, as it is said: "and thou shalt come unto the priests, and the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire"; judge is here put for judges, of which the great court consisted, being priests, Levites, and Israelites; See Gill on Deuteronomy 16:18, though others think that only a single person is meant, such as Othniel, Ehud, Gideon, Samson, &c. but then as there was not always such an one in being, I should rather think that the judge here, if a single person, is the president or prince of the great sanhedrim, who succeeded Moses, and sat in his place; and of him and his court, the priests, and Levites and Israelites that composed it, inquiry was to be made:
and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment; give their judgment in the difficult case proposed, and declare what is right to be done, and what sentence is to be pronounced.
(f) Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 2. sect. 2.

Unto the priests - That is, unto the great council, which consisted chiefly of the priests and Levites, as being the best expositors of the laws of God, by which all those controversies were to be decided. And the high - priest was commonly one of that number, understood here under the priests, whereof be was the chief. The judge - Probably the high - priest, to whom it belonged to determine, some at least, of those controversies, and to expound the law of God. And he may be distinctly named, tho' he be one of the priests, because of his eminency, and to shew that amongst the priests, he especially was to be consulted in such cases. The sentence of judgment - Hebrews. The word, or matter of judgement, that is, the true state of the cause, and what judgment or sentence ought to be given in it.