Deuteronomy 21
1 If there be found a slain person 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:
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.
2 Then shall thy elders and thy judges go forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about the one that is slain.
Your elders and judges must come and measure the distance from the body to the surrounding towns.
3 And it shall be, that the city which is the nearest unto the slain person, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer, which hath not been wrought with, which hath not drawn in a yoke;
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.
4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither tilled nor sown, and they shall break there the neck of the heifer in the valley;
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.
5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the Lord; and after their decision shall be done [at] every controversy and every injury;
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.
6 And all the elders of that city who are nearest unto the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer, the neck of which is broken in the valley.
Then all the elders of the town nearest the body are to wash their hands in the stream over the dead cow, saying,
7 And they shall commence and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it.
“We had nothing to do with this murder, and we didn't see who did it.
8 Grant pardon unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, O Lord, and lay not innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel: and the blood shall be forgiven unto them.
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.”
9 And thou shalt put away the [guilt of] the innocent blood from the midst of thee, when thou wilt do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
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.
10 When thou goest forth to war against thy enemies, and the Lord thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou takest captives of them;
When you go to war with your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you in defeat, and you capture them,
11 And thou seest among the captives a woman of handsome form, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldst take her to thee for wife:
you may see that one of them is a beautiful woman who you like and want to marry.
12 Then shalt thou bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and let grow her nails;
Take her home and have her shave her head, cut her nails,
13 And she shall put off the raiment of her captivity from her, and she shall remain in thy house, and weep for her father and her mother a full month; and after that thou mayest go in unto her, and be her husband, that she may become thy wife.
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.
14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then shalt thou let her go whither she will; but thou shalt nowise sell her for money; thou shalt not make a servant of her, because thou hast humbled her.
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.
15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and the other hated, and they bear him children, both the beloved and the hated; so that the first-born son be hers that is hated:
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,
16 Then shall it be, when he divideth as inheritance among his sons what he hath, that he shall not institute the son of the beloved as the first-born before the son of the hated, the firstborn;
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.
17 But the first-born, the son of the hated woman, shall he acknowledge, to give him a double portion of all that is found in his possession; for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongeth the right of the first birth.
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.
18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who hearkeneth not to the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and they chastise him, and he will not hearken unto them:
If someone has a obstinate and rebellious son who doesn't obey his parents and doesn't obey them even when he's punished,
19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
his parents must take him to the town elders, to the court in his hometown,
20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not hearken to our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
and tell them, “Our son is obstinate and rebellious, He doesn't obey us. He's a worthless drunk!”
21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die; and thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee; and all Israel shall hear, and be afraid.
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.
22 And if a man have committed a sin for which there is a punishment of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
If someone commits a crime punishable by death, and the person is executed by hanging on a tree,
23 Then shall his body not remain all night on the tree, but thou shalt surely bury him on that day; [for he that is hanged is a dishonor of God; ] and thou shalt not defile thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
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.
