Deuteronomy 21

1 If a man is found slain in the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it not be known who has smitten him,

2 then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth. And they shall measure to the cities which are round about him who is slain,

3 and it shall be, that the city which is nearest to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke,

4 and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near, for Jehovah thy God has chosen them to minister to him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah, and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be.

6 And all the elders of that city, who are nearest to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,

7 and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

8 Forgive, O Jehovah, thy people Israel whom thou have redeemed, and allow no innocent blood to remain in the midst of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them.

9 So shall thou put away the innocent blood from the midst of thee when thou shall do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah.

10 When thou go forth to battle against thine enemies, and Jehovah thy God delivers them into thy hands, and thou carry them away captive,

11 and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and thou have a desire for her, and would take her to thee to wife,

12 then thou shall bring her home to thy house. And she shall shave her head, and pare her nails,

13 and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. And after that thou shall go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.

14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shall let her go where she will, but thou shall not sell her at all for money. Thou shall not deal with her harshly, because thou have humbled her.

15 If a man has two wives, the one beloved, and the other regarded inferior, and they have borne him sons, both the beloved and the one regarded inferior, and if the firstborn son be hers who was regarded inferior,

16 then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn before the son of the one regarded inferior, who is the firstborn.

17 But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the one regarded inferior, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.

18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and, though they chasten him, will not hearken to them,

19 then his father and his mother shall lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place.

20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice. He is a glutton, and a drunkard.

21 And all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So thou shall put away the evil from the midst of thee, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

22 And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree,

23 his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shall surely bury him the same day, for he who is hanged is accursed of God, that thou not defile thy land which Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance.