Deuteronomy 21
1 If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath smitten 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 thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him 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 nearest unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer of the herd, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the 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 valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there 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 according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be:
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 man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was 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 answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
“We had nothing to do with this murder, and we didn't see who did it.
8 Forgive, O LORD, thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and suffer not innocent blood [to remain] in the midst of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven 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 So shalt thou put away the innocent blood from the midst of thee, when thou shalt do that which 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 battle against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God delivereth them into thine hands, and thou carriest them away captive,
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 seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and thou hast a desire unto her, and wouldest take her to thee to wife;
you may see that one of them is a beautiful woman who you like and want to marry.
12 then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
Take her home and have her shave her head, cut her nails,
13 and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be 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 thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not deal with her as a slave, 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, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was 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 it shall be, in the day that he causeth his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn before the son of the hated, which is 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 he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
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, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, 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 obey our voice; he is a riotous liver, 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: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
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 worthy of death, and he 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 his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt surely bury him the same day; for he that is hanged is accursed of God; that thou defile not 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.
