Deuteronomii 21

1 quando inventum fuerit in terra quam Dominus Deus tuus daturus est tibi hominis cadaver occisi et ignoratur caedis reus

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

2 egredientur maiores natu et iudices 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 eius tollent vitulam de armento quae non traxit iugum 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 quae numquam arata est nec sementem recepit et caedent in ea cervices vitulae

The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed 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 eius et ad verbum eorum omne negotium et quicquid mundum vel inmundum est iudicetur

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

6 et maiores natu civitatis illius ad interfectum lavabuntque manus suas super vitulam quae 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 nostrae non effuderunt hunc sanguinem 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 Israhel quem redemisti Domine et non reputes sanguinem innocentem in medio populi tui Israhel et auferetur ab eis reatus sanguinis

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

9 tu autem alienus eris ab innocentis cruore qui fusus est cum feceris quod praecepit Dominus

So you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’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 Yahweh 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 among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her, and desire to take her as your wife,

12 introduces in domum tuam quae radet caesariem 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 sin 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 odiosae 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 dilectae facere primogenitum et praeferre filio odiosae

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 odiosae agnoscet primogenitum dabitque ei de his quae habuerit cuncta duplicia iste est enim principium liberorum eius 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 coercitus oboedire 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 adprehendent eum et ducent ad seniores civitatis illius et ad portam iudicii

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 comesationibus vacat et luxuriae 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 Israhel audiens pertimescat

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

22 quando peccaverit homo quod morte plectendum est et adiudicatus morti adpensus 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 eius 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 Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.