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Deuteronomy 21
Legacy Standard Bible

Atonement for Innocent Blood

21 “If a slain person is found fallen in the open country in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to [a]possess, and it is not known who has struck him, 2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. 3 And it shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; 4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 5 Then (A)the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to minister for Him and to bless in the name of Yahweh; and every dispute and every [b]assault [c]shall be settled by them. 6 And all the elders of that city [d]who are nearest to the slain man shall (B)wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; 7 and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. 8 Atone for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Yahweh, and do not place the guilt of (C)innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the bloodguiltiness shall be atoned for them. 9 (D)So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.

Statutes About Domestic Relations

10 “If you go out to battle against your enemies, and (E)Yahweh your God gives them over into your hands and you take them away captive, 11 and see among the captives a beautiful woman and set your affection on her and would take her as a wife for yourself, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall (F)shave her head and [e]trim her nails. 13 She shall also [f]remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house and (G)weep for her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 And it will be that, if you do not desire her, then you shall let her go [g]wherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for money; you shall not [h]mistreat her because you have (H)humbled her.

15 “If a man has two wives, the one loved and (I)the other [i]unloved, and both the loved and the [j]unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the [k]unloved, 16 then it shall be in the day he [l]wills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the [m]unloved, who is the firstborn. 17 But he shall recognize the firstborn, the son of the [n]unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that [o]he has, for he is the (J)first of his vigor; (K)the legal judgment for the firstborn belongs to him.

18 “If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will (L)not obey his father or his mother, and when they discipline him, he will not even listen to them, 19 then his father and mother shall seize him and bring him out to the elders of his city [p]at the gateway of his hometown. 20 Then they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not listen to our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 (M)Then all the men of his city shall stone him, and he will die; so (N)you shall purge the evil from your midst, and (O)all Israel will hear of it and fear.

A Man Hanged on a Tree Is Cursed

22 “And if a man has committed a sin, (P)the judgment of which is death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 (Q)his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (because (R)cursed of God is he who is hanged), so that you (S)do not make unclean your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 21:1 Lit possess it
  2. Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit stroke
  3. Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit shall be according to their mouth
  4. Deuteronomy 21:6 Lit which is
  5. Deuteronomy 21:12 Lit do
  6. Deuteronomy 21:13 Lit remove from her
  7. Deuteronomy 21:14 Lit according to her soul
  8. Deuteronomy 21:14 Or enslave
  9. Deuteronomy 21:15 Lit hated
  10. Deuteronomy 21:15 Lit hated
  11. Deuteronomy 21:15 Lit hated
  12. Deuteronomy 21:16 Lit makes to inherit
  13. Deuteronomy 21:16 Lit hated
  14. Deuteronomy 21:17 Lit hated
  15. Deuteronomy 21:17 Lit is found with him
  16. Deuteronomy 21:19 Lit and to the gate of his place
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Deuteronomy 21
International Standard Version

Atonement for Unsolved Murder

21 “If a murder victim is found fallen in the open country of the land that the Lord your God is about to give you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, 2 then let your elders and judges go out and measure the distance from the dead body to the neighboring cities. 3 Then the elders of the city nearest the body are to take a heifer that hasn’t been put to work or hasn’t pulled a yoke 4 and[a] are to lead the heifer to a flowing stream in a valley that has never been tilled or planted. They are to break the heifer’s neck there. 5 Then the priests of the descendants of Levi are to step forward, because the Lord your God chose them to serve and pronounce blessings in his name.[b] Every case of dispute and assault is to be subject to their ruling. 6 All the elders of the city nearest the dead body are to wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7 and they are to make this declaration: ‘Our hands didn’t shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to the crime. 8 Make atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and don’t charge the blood of an innocent man against them.’[c] Then the blood that has been shed will be atoned for. 9 This is how you will remove the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right in the sight of the Lord.”

Marriage to a War Captive

10 “If you go to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your control, you may take some prisoners captive. 11 If you see among the prisoners a beautiful woman and you desire her, then you may take her as your wife. 12 Bring her to your house, but shave her head and trim her nails. 13 Remove her prisoner’s clothing and let her remain for a month in your house, mourning her parents. After that, you may[d] become her husband and she is to become your wife. 14 If you aren’t pleased with her and you send her away, you must not sell her for money or mistreat her, since you will have dishonored her.”

Preferential Treatment Prohibited

15 “If a man has two wives where one is loved but the other is unloved, and both[e] of them bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife, 16 then when he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, he must not give preference to the firstborn of the beloved wife over the firstborn of the unloved wife. 17 Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn of the unloved wife by giving him double of everything he owns, because he is really the first fruit of his father’s[f] strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.”

Death to a Rebellious Son

18 “If a man has a stubborn son who does not obey his parents,[g] and although they try to discipline him, he still refuses to pay attention to them, 19 then his parents[h] are to seize him and bring him before the elders at the gate of his city. 20 Then they are to declare to the elders of their city: ‘Our son is stubborn and rebellious. He does not obey us. He lives wildly and is a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city are to stone him with boulders so that he dies. This is how you will remove this evil from among you. Then all Israel will hear of it and will be afraid.”

Burial of the Executed

22 “If a man is guilty of a capital offense, is executed, and then is impaled on a tree, 23 his body must not remain overnight on the tree. You must bury him that same day, because cursed of God is the one who has been hanged on a tree. Don’t defile your land that the Lord is about to give you as your inheritance.”

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 21:4 Lit. The elders of the city
  2. Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit. in the name of the Lord your God
  3. Deuteronomy 21:8 Lit. against your people Israel
  4. Deuteronomy 21:13 Lit. may go in to her,
  5. Deuteronomy 21:15 Lit. the one who is loved and who is not loved
  6. Deuteronomy 21:17 The Heb. lacks father’s
  7. Deuteronomy 21:18 Lit. obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother
  8. Deuteronomy 21:19 Lit. his father and his mother
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Deuteronomy 20
Deuteronomy 22
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