Deuteronomy 1:16

16 praecepique eis dicens audite illos et quod iustum est iudicate sive civis sit ille sive peregrinus

Deuteronomy 1:16 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 1:16

And I charged your judges at that time
When they were appointed and constituted, even the heads and rulers before spoken of; this charge is also new, and not recorded before:

saying, hear the causes between your brethren;
hear both sides, and all that each of them have to say; not suffer one to say all he has to say, and oblige the other to cut his words short, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it; but give them leave and time to tell their case, and give the best evidence they can of it:

and judge righteously;
impartially, just as the case really appears to be, and according to the evidence given:

between every man and his brother;
between an Israelite and an Israelite:

and the stranger that is with him;
between an Israelite and proselyte, whether a proselyte of the gate, or of righteousness; the same justice was to be done to them as to an Israelite.

Deuteronomy 1:16 In-Context

14 tunc respondistis mihi bona res est quam vis facere

15 tulique de tribubus vestris viros sapientes et nobiles et constitui eos principes tribunos et centuriones et quinquagenarios ac decanos qui docerent vos singula

16 praecepique eis dicens audite illos et quod iustum est iudicate sive civis sit ille sive peregrinus

17 nulla erit distantia personarum ita parvum audietis ut magnum nec accipietis cuiusquam personam quia Dei iudicium est quod si difficile vobis aliquid visum fuerit referte ad me et ego audiam

18 praecepique omnia quae facere deberetis