Deuteronomy 21

1 “When one is found slain, fallen in a field on the ground which your God YHWH is giving to you to possess it, [and] it is not known 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 then your elderly and yours [of those] judging have gone out and measured to the cities which [are] around the slain one,

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 has been, the city which [is] near to the slain one, even [the] elderly of that city have taken a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked with, which has not drawn in 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] elderly of that city have brought down the heifer to a hard valley, which is not tilled nor sown, and have beheaded the heifer there 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, sons of Levi, have come near—for your God YHWH has fixed on them to serve Him and to bless in the Name of YHWH, and by their mouth is every strife and every stroke—

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] elderly of that city, who are near to the slain one, wash their hands over the heifer which is beheaded 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 have answered and said, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen—

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

8 receive atonement for Your people Israel, whom You have ransomed, O YHWH, and do not permit innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel; and the blood has been pardoned 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 put away the innocent blood out of your midst, for you do that which [is] right in the eyes of YHWH.

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 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and your God YHWH has given them into your hand, and you have taken captive its captivity,

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 have seen a woman of beautiful form in the captivity, and have delighted in her, and have taken [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 then you have brought her into the midst of your household, and she has shaved her head, and prepared her nails,

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

13 and turned aside the raiment of her captivity from off her, and has dwelt in your house, and lamented her father and her mother [for] a month of days, and afterward you go in to her and have married her, and she has been to you for a 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 has been, if you have not delighted in her, that you have sent her away at her desire, and surely you do not sell her for money; you do not tyrannize over her, because that 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 When a man has two wives, one loved and the other hated, and they have borne sons to him (the loved one and the hated one), and the firstborn son has been to the hated one,

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 has been, in the day of his causing his sons to inherit that which he has, he is not able to declare firstborn the son of the loved one, in the face of the son of the hated one—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 the firstborn, son of the hated one, he acknowledges, to give to him a double portion of all that is found with him, for he [is] the beginning of his strength; to him [is] the right of the firstborn.

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 When a man has a son apostatizing and being rebellious—he is not listening to the voice of his father and to the voice of his mother, and they have disciplined him, and he does 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 his father and his mother have laid hold on him, and they have brought him out to [the] elderly of his city, and to the gate of his place,

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

20 and have said to [the] elderly of his city, Our son—this one—is apostatizing and being rebellious; he is not listening to our voice—a glutton and 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 Then all the men of his city have stoned him with stones and he has died, and you have put away the evil out of your midst, and all Israel hears and fears.

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 when there is a sin in a man [with] a judgment of death, and he has been put to death, and you have hanged 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 corpse does not remain on the tree, for you certainly bury him in the day—for he who is hanged [becomes] a curse of God—and you do not defile your ground which your God YHWH is giving to 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.”