Deuteronomy 21

1 And if one be found slain with the sword in the land, which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, having fallen in the field, and they do not know who has struck [him];

“When there will have been found in the land, which the Lord your God will give to you, the corpse of a man who has been killed, and it is not known who is guilty of the murder,

2 your elders and your judges shall come forth, and shall measure the distances of the cities round about the slain man:

your judges and those greater by birth shall go out and measure, from the place of the corpse, the distance to each of the surrounding cities.

3 and it shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not laboured, and which has not borne a yoke.

And in whichever one they perceive to be closer than the others, the elders shall take a calf from the herd, one which has not pulled with a yoke, nor tilled with a plow.

4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer into a rough valley, which has not been tilled and is not sown, and they shall kill the heifer in the valley.

And they shall lead it into a rough and stony valley, one which has never been tilled or sown. And in that place, they shall cut the neck of the calf.

5 And the priests the Levites shall come, because the Lord God has chosen them to stand by him, and to bless in his name, and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be [decided].

And the priests the sons of Levi shall approach, those whom the Lord your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and to decide every controversy by their word, and to judge which things are clean and which are unclean.

6 And all the elders of that city who draw near to the slain man shall wash their hands over the head of the heifer which was slain in the valley;

And those greater by birth of that city, nearest to the one who was slain, shall go and shall wash their hands over the calf that was killed in the valley.

7 and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen [it].

And they shall say: ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

8 Be merciful to your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, that innocent blood may not be charged on your people Israel: and the blood shall be atoned for to them.

Be merciful to your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, and do not charge them with innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.’ And so the guilt of the blood will be taken away from them.

9 And you shall take away innocent blood from among you, if you should do that which is good and pleasing before the Lord your God.

Then you will be free from the blood that was shed against the innocent, when you will have done as the Lord has instructed you.

10 And if when you go out to war against your enemies, the Lord your God should deliver them into your hands, and you should take their spoil,

If you have gone out to fight against your enemies, and the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand, and if, as you are leading away the captives,

11 and should see among the spoil a woman beautiful in countenance, and should desire her, and take her to yourself for a wife,

you see among the number of the captives a beautiful woman, and you love her, and you are willing to have her as a wife:

12 and should bring her within your house: then shall you shave her head, and pare her nails;

then you shall lead her into your house. And she shall shave off her hair, and cut her nails short,

13 and shall take away her garments of captivity from off her, and she shall abide in your house, and shall bewail her father and mother the days of a month; and afterwards you shall go in to her and dwell with her, and she shall be your wife.

and remove the garment in which she was captured. And she shall sit in your house and weep for her father and mother, for one month. And after that, you shall enter to her and sleep with her, and she shall be your wife.

14 And it shall be if you do not delight in her, you shall send her out free; and she shall not by any means be sold for money, you shall not treat her contemptuously, because you have humbled her.

But if afterwards she does not sit well in your mind, you shall set her free. You cannot sell her for money, nor can you oppress her by force. For you have humiliated her.

15 And if a man have two wives, the one loved and the other hated, and both the loved and the hated should have born him [children], and the son of the hated should be firstborn;

If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other hated, and they have produced children by him, and if the son of the hated wife is the firstborn,

16 then it shall be that whenever he shall divide by inheritance his goods to his sons, he shall not be able to give the right of the firstborn to the son of the loved one, having overlooked the son of the hated, which is the firstborn.

and if he wishes to divide his substance among his sons: he cannot make the son of the beloved wife the firstborn, and so prefer him before the son of the hated wife.

17 But he shall acknowledge the firstborn of the hated one to give to him double of all things which shall be found by him, because he is the first of his children, and to him belongs the birthright.

Instead, he shall acknowledge the son of the hated wife as the firstborn, and he shall give to him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the first among his children, and the rights of the firstborn are owed to him.

18 And if any man has a disobedient and contentious son, who hearkens not to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother, and they should correct him, and he should not listen to them;

If a man produces a disobedient and reckless son, who will not listen to the orders of his father or mother, and, having been corrected, shows contempt for obedience:

19 then shall his father and his mother take hold of him, and bring him forth to the elders of his city, and to the gate of the place:

they shall take him and lead him to the elders of the city and to the gate of judgment.

20 and they shall say to the men of their city, This our son is disobedient and contentious, he hearkens not to our voice, he is a reveler and a drunkard.

And they shall say to them: ‘This our son is reckless and disobedient. He shows contempt when listening to our admonitions. He occupies himself with carousing, and self-indulgence, and feasting.’

21 And the men of his city shall stone him with stones, and he shall die; and you shall remove the evil one from yourselves, and the rest shall hear and fear.

Then the people of the city shall stone him to death. And he shall die, so that you may take away the evil from your midst. And so may all of Israel, upon hearing it, be very afraid.

22 And if there be sin in any one, [and] the judgment of death [be upon him], and he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree:

When a man will have sinned in a matter which is punished by death, and, having been judged unto death, he has been hanged on a gallows:

23 his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall by all means bury it in that day; for every one that is hanged on a tree is cursed of God; and you shall by no means defile the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.

his corpse shall not remain on the tree. Instead, he shall be buried on the same day. For he who hangs from a tree has been cursed by God, and you shall not defile your land, which the Lord your God will give to you as a possession.”