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,

“Suppose someone has been murdered in a field in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, and you do not know who killed that person.

2 then your elderly and yours [of those] judging have gone out and measured to the cities which [are] around the slain one,

[If that happens], your elders and judges must go out to where that person’s corpse was found and measure the distance from there to each of the nearby towns.

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,

Then the elders in the town that is closest to where the corpse was found must select a young cow that has never been used for doing work.

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.

They must take it to a place near a stream where the ground has never been plowed or planted. They must break its neck there in that valley.

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—

The priests must go there also, because Yahweh our God has chosen them from the tribe of Levi to serve him and to be his representatives [MTY] when they bless people. And he has also chosen them to settle disputes in which someone has been injured.

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,

The elders from the closest town must wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken,

7 and they have answered and said, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen—

and they must say, ‘We did not murder this person [MTY], and we did not see who did 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,

Yahweh, forgive us, your Israeli people whom you rescued [from Egypt]. Do not consider (us to be guilty/that we should be punished because) of murdering someone who (is innocent/had not done something that is wrong). Instead, forgive us.’

9 and you put away the innocent blood out of your midst, for you do that which [is] right in the eyes of YHWH.

By doing that, you will be doing what Yahweh considers to be right, and you will not be considered to be guilty for murdering that person.”

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,

“When you [soldiers] go to fight against your enemies, and Yahweh our God enables you to defeat them [IDM], and (they become your prisoners/you capture them),

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,

one of you may see among them a beautiful woman that he likes, and he may want to marry her.

12 then you have brought her into the midst of your household, and she has shaved her head, and prepared her nails,

He should take her to his home, and there she must shave [all the hair off] her head and cut her fingernails [to signify that now she does not belong to her people-group any more, but instead she is becoming an Israeli].

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.

She must take off the clothes that she was wearing when she was captured, [and put on Israeli clothes]. She must stay in that man’s house and mourn for a month because of [leaving] her parents. After that, he will be allowed to marry her.

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.

Later, if he no longer is pleased with her, he will be permitted to allow her to leave him. But because she was forced to have sex with him, he will not be allowed to treat her like a slave [and sell her to someone else].”

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,

“Suppose that a man has two wives, but he likes one of them and dislikes the other one. And suppose that they both give birth to sons, and the oldest son is the child of the woman that he does not like.

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.

On the day when that man decides how he will divide his possessions for his sons to possess [after he dies], he must not favor the son of the wife that he loves by giving him [a bigger share, ] the share that the older son should receive.

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.

He must give to the older son, the son of the wife whom he does not like, twice as much of his possessions. That son is his firstborn son, and he must be given the share that he should receive because of his being that man’s firstborn son.”

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—

“Suppose there is a boy who is very stubborn and always (rebelling against/disobeying) [his parents], and who will not heed what they say to him. And suppose that they punish him but he still does not pay attention to what they tell him [MTY].

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,

If that happens, his parents must take him to the (gate of/central meeting place in) the city where he lives and have him stand in front of the elders of the city.

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.

Then the parents must say to the elders of that city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and always rebelling against us. He will not pay attention to what we tell him [MTY]. He wastes a lot of money (OR, eats too much food) and gets drunk.’

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 all the elders of that city must execute him by throwing stones at him. By doing that, you will get rid of this evil practice among you. And everyone in Israel will hear [about what happened] and they will be afraid [to do what he did].”

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,

“If someone is executed for having committed a crime for which he deserves to die, and you hang his corpse on a post,

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.”

you must not allow his corpse to remain there all night. You must bury it on the day that he died, because [God] has cursed anyone whose corpse is allowed to remain on a post. [You must bury the corpse that day], in order that you do not defile the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you.”