Deuteronomy 21

1 Someone may be found murdered, lying in a field in the country that the Lord your God is giving you to own, and nobody knows who killed them.

If [one] shall be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, [and] it be not known who hath slain him:

2 Your elders and judges must come and measure the distance from the body to the surrounding towns.

Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which [are] around him that is slain:

3 Then the elders of the town that's found to be nearest to the body shall take a cow that has never been put under a yoke or used for work.

And it shall be [that] the city [which is] next to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer which hath not been wrought with, [and] which hath not drawn in the yoke;

4 Take the cow to a valley that has a stream running through it and whose ground has never been plowed or sown. Break the cow's neck there beside the stream.

And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a rough valley, which is neither tilled nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley;

5 The Levitical priests must be there too, because the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to give blessings in his name, and to decide on legal disputes and cases of assault.

And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near (for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the LORD) and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be [tried];

6 Then all the elders of the town nearest the body are to wash their hands in the stream over the dead cow, saying,

And all the elders of that city [that are] next to the slain [man], shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:

7 “We had nothing to do with this murder, and we didn't see who did it.

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

8 Lord, please forgive your people Israel who you rescued, and do not hold them guilty of shedding of innocent blood In this way the guilt for shedding blood will be forgiven.”

Be merciful, O LORD, to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood to the charge of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them.

9 This is how you are to remove from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the Lord's sight.

So shalt thou remove the [guilt of] innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do [that which is] right in the sight of the LORD.

10 When you go to war with your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you in defeat, and you capture them,

When thou goest forth to war against thy enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thy hands, and thou hast taken them captive,

11 you may see that one of them is a beautiful woman who you like and want to marry.

And [thou] seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire to her, that thou wouldest have her for thy wife:

12 Take her home and have her shave her head, cut her nails,

Then thou shalt bring her home to thy house, and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails:

13 and get rid of the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. After she has lived in your home and has finished her month of mourning for her father and mother, you may sleep with her and marry her, and she shall be your wife.

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

14 However, if you are not happy with her, you must let her leave and go wherever she wants. You are not allowed to sell her for money or treat her like a slave, because you have brought shame on her.

And it shall be, if thou shalt have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money; thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

15 If a man has two wives, one he loves and one he doesn't, and both have sons by him, but the firstborn son is from the wife he doesn't love,

If a man shall have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have borne him children, [both] the beloved and the hated; and [if] the first-born son be hers that was hated:

16 when the time comes for the man to decide what each son will inherit from him, he must not prefer the son of wife he loves and treat him as the firstborn instead of the son of the wife he doesn't love.

Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit [that] which he hath, [that] he may not prefer the son of the beloved first-born, before the son of the hated, [which is indeed] the first-born:

17 No. He is to recognize the firstborn, the son of the wife he doesn't love through the usual custom of giving him a double portion of all that he owns. The firstborn son is the firstfruits of his father's strength, and so the rights of the firstborn are his.

But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated [for] the first-born, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he [is] the beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born [is] his.

18 If someone has a obstinate and rebellious son who doesn't obey his parents and doesn't obey them even when he's punished,

If a man shall have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and [who], when they have chastened him, will not hearken to them:

19 his parents must take him to the town elders, to the court in his hometown,

Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place;

20 and tell them, “Our son is obstinate and rebellious, He doesn't obey us. He's a worthless drunk!”

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 Then all the men of his home town will stone him to death. You must eliminate the evil from among you, and every Israelite will hear about it and be afraid.

And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he may die: so shalt thou remove evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

22 If someone commits a crime punishable by death, and the person is executed by hanging on a tree,

And if a man shall have committed a sin worthy of death, and he must be put to death, and thou shalt hang him on a tree:

23 don't leave the body hanging there overnight. Make sure you bury the body the same day, because anyone who is hung is under God's curse. Don't defile the country that the Lord your God is giving you to own.

His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged [is] accursed of God; ) that thy land may not be defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.