⁶ And all the elders of that city ^[a]which is nearest to the person killed shall ^(A)wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; ⁷ and they shall respond and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see who did. ^8 [b]Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, Lord, and do not place the guilt for ^(B)innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the guilt for bloodshed shall be ^[c]forgiven them. ^9 (C)So you shall remove the guilt for innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

³¹ And the king said to him, “^(A)Do just as he has spoken, and ^[a]execute him and bury him, ^(B)so that you may remove from me and from my father’s house the blood which Joab shed without ^[b]justification. ^32 (C)The Lord will return his blood on his own head, ^(D)because he ^[c]struck two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know about it: ^(E)Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and ^(F)Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ^33 (G)So their blood shall return on the head of Joab and on the head of his ^[d]descendants forever; but for David and his ^[e]descendants, and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the Lord forever.”