Deuteronomii 21

1 Quando inventum fuerit in terra, quam Dominus Deus tuus daturus est tibi, hominis cadaver occisi, et ignorabitur cædis reus,

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,

2 egredientur majores natu, et judices tui, et metientur a loco cadaveris singularum per circuitum spatia civitatum:

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

3 et quam viciniorem ceteris esse perspexerint, seniores civitatis illius tollent vitulam de armento, quæ non traxit jugum, nec terram scidit vomere,

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.

4 et ducent eam ad vallem asperam atque saxosam, quæ numquam arata est, nec sementem recepit: et cædent in ea cervices vitulæ:

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.

5 accedentque sacerdotes filii Levi, quos elegerit Dominus Deus tuus ut ministrent ei, et benedicant in nomine ejus, et ad verbum eorum omne negotium, et quidquid mundum, vel immundum est, judicetur.

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.

6 Et venient majores natu civitatis illius ad interfectum, lavabuntque manus suas super vitulam, quæ in valle percussa est,

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.

7 et dicent: Manus nostræ non effuderunt sanguinem hunc, nec oculi viderunt:

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

8 propitius esto populo tuo Israël, quem redemisti, Domine, et ne reputes sanguinem innocentem in medio populi tui Israël. Et auferetur ab eis reatus sanguinis:

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.

9 tu autem alienus eris ab innocentis cruore, qui fusus est, cum feceris quod præcepit Dominus.

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

10 Si egressus fueris ad pugnam contra inimicos tuos, et tradiderit eos Dominus Deus tuus in manu tua, captivosque duxeris,

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,

11 et videris in numero captivorum mulierem pulchram, et adamaveris eam, voluerisque habere uxorem,

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

12 introduces eam in domum tuam: quæ radet cæsariem, et circumcidet ungues,

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

13 et deponet vestem, in qua capta est: sedensque in domo tua, flebit patrem et matrem suam uno mense: et postea intrabis ad eam, dormiesque cum illa, et erit uxor tua.

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.

14 Si autem postea non sederit animo tuo, dimittes eam liberam, nec vendere poteris pecunia, nec opprimere per potentiam: quia humiliasti eam.

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.

15 Si habuerit homo uxores duas, unam dilectam, et alteram odiosam, genuerintque ex eo liberos, et fuerit filius odiosæ primogenitus,

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,

16 volueritque substantiam inter filios suos dividere, non poterit filium dilectæ facere primogenitum, et præferre filio odiosæ:

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;

17 sed filium odiosæ agnoscet primogenitum, dabitque ei de his quæ habuerit cuncta duplicia: iste est enim principium liberorum ejus, et huic debentur primogenita.

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.

18 Si genuerit homo filium contumacem et protervum, qui non audiat patris aut matris imperium, et coërcitus obedire contempserit:

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,

19 apprehendent eum, et ducent ad seniores civitatis illius, et ad portam judicii,

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.

20 dicentque ad eos: Filius noster iste protervus et contumax est: monita nostra audire contemnit, comessationibus vacat, et luxuriæ atque conviviis:

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.”

21 lapidibus eum obruet populus civitatis, et morietur, ut auferatis malum de medio vestri, et universus Israël audiens pertimescat.

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.

22 Quando peccaverit homo quod morte plectendum est, et adjudicatus morti appensus fuerit in patibulo:

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

23 non permanebit cadaver ejus in ligno, sed in eadem die sepelietur: quia maledictus a Deo est qui pendet in ligno: et nequaquam contaminabis terram tuam, quam Dominus Deus tuus dederit tibi in possessionem.

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.