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 someone is found slain in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it isn’t known who has struck him,

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

then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who 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.

It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn’t been worked with and which has 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.

The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither ploughed nor sown, and shall break 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.

The priests the sons of Levi shall come near, for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the LORD’s name; and according to their word shall every controversy and every assault be decided.

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

All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.

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

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.”

Forgive, LORD, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don’t allow innocent blood amongst your people Israel.” 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 you shall put away the innocent blood from amongst you, when you shall do that which is right in the LORD’s eyes.

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 you go out to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you carry them away captive,

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

and see amongst the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her, and desire to take her as your wife,

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

then you shall bring her home to your house. She shall shave her head and trim 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.

She shall take off the clothing of her captivity, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your 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.

It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she desires; but you shall not sell her at all for money. You shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have 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 has two wives, the one beloved and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and if the firstborn son is hers who 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, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the beloved the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn;

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 firstborn, the son of the hated, 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 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 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 listen to them,

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

then his father and his mother shall take hold of 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!”

They shall tell 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.

All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from amongst you. 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,

If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you 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 on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. Don’t defile your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.