2 Chronicles 19 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~853-850 BC, immediately after Jehoshaphat's return from the failed campaign at Ramoth Gilead
Location
Jerusalem and the fortified towns of Judah, from Beersheba in the far south to the hill country of Ephraim in the north
Audience
Jews rebuilding civic life under Persian rule, where local courts and honest judges were a practical daily concern
Situation
A prophet rebukes Jehoshaphat for helping a king who hated God, and the king responds by touring the kingdom and installing judges in every fortified town. He sets up an appeals court in Jerusalem staffed by Levites, priests, and family heads, with strict instructions against bribery and favouritism.
Key Background
Before this, justice was handled by village elders at the town gate, so appointing salaried judges under royal warrant and creating a central appeal body was a real administrative reform. Ancient Near Eastern law codes commonly warn against bribes because judges were often unpaid and expected gifts from litigants, which made partiality the normal risk rather than an exceptional one. Splitting the appeal court between a chief priest for religious cases and a lay governor for royal ones separated two categories of law that were otherwise tangled together, a structure echoed later in the Jewish council system of the Roman period.
Then king of Judah returned safely to his palace in
Jehu son of Hanani, the went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, "Should you be helping those who are and loving those who hate Yahweh? Because of this, Yahweh is with you.
But there is some good found in you, because you removed the from the land, and you have to God."
Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, but he went out again among the people from to the of and he them to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.
He appointed throughout the land, in every of Judah, by
He told the judges, "Be careful about what you do, because you are not for human purposes — you are for and he is with you in every you give.
So let for be upon you. Be careful in what you do, because with our God there is no no and no taking of bribes."
In Jerusalem too, Jehoshaphat appointed some of the priests, and heads of Israelite families to serve as judges for and for Then they returned to Jerusalem.
He gave them these orders: "This is how you must carry out your duties — with reverence for Yahweh, with and with your
Whenever a case comes before you from your fellow citizens who live in their cities — whether it involves or questions of or — you must warn them so they don't become before Yahweh. Otherwise his fury will fall on you and your fellow citizens. Do this, and you won't be
Look — Amariah the is over you in all matters involving Yahweh, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the leader of the house of Judah, is over you in all matters involving the king. The Levites will serve as officers before you. Be and do it! May Yahweh be with those who do what is