Deuteronomy 21

1 If someone is found slain in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it isn’t known who has struck him,

“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,

2 then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain.

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

3 It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn’t been worked with and which has not drawn in the yoke.

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,

4 The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither ploughed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

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.

5 The priests the sons of Levi shall come near, for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the LORD’s name; and according to their word shall every controversy and every assault be decided.

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—

6 All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.

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,

7 They shall answer and say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

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

8 Forgive, LORD, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don’t allow innocent blood amongst your people Israel.” The blood shall be forgiven them.

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,

9 So you shall put away the innocent blood from amongst you, when you shall do that which is right in the LORD’s eyes.

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

10 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you carry them away captive,

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,

11 and see amongst the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her, and desire to take her as your wife,

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,

12 then you shall bring her home to your house. She shall shave her head and trim her nails.

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

13 She shall take off the clothing of her captivity, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

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.

14 It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she desires; but you shall not sell her at all for money. You shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her.

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.

15 If a man has 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 is hers who was hated,

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,

16 then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the beloved the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn;

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.

17 but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.

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.

18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them,

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—

19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place.

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,

20 They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”

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.

21 All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from amongst you. All Israel shall hear, and fear.

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.

22 If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

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,

23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. Don’t defile your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.

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.”