King James Bible
"When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison."
Jesus describes a legal dispute where two parties are traveling to court. In first-century Jewish society, such disputes were common and the journey itself provided a final opportunity for reconciliation before formal proceedings began. The urgent counsel is to work earnestly for settlement before reaching court. The Greek term for 'give diligence' implies strenuous effort, emphasizing that reconciliation requires intentional action while time remains. This cascading sequence illustrates the inexorable Roman legal process once formal judgment begins. Debtors' prison was a harsh reality where one remained until full payment, making pre-trial settlement the wise choice to avoid potentially ruinous consequences.