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
- Deuteronomy 21:1 Lit possess it
- Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit stroke
- Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit shall be according to their mouth
- Deuteronomy 21:6 Lit which is
- Deuteronomy 21:12 Lit do
- Deuteronomy 21:13 Lit remove from her
- Deuteronomy 21:14 Lit according to her soul
- Deuteronomy 21:14 Or enslave
- Deuteronomy 21:15 Lit hated
- Deuteronomy 21:15 Lit hated
- Deuteronomy 21:15 Lit hated
- Deuteronomy 21:16 Lit makes to inherit
- Deuteronomy 21:16 Lit hated
- Deuteronomy 21:17 Lit hated
- Deuteronomy 21:17 Lit is found with him
- Deuteronomy 21:19 Lit and to the gate of his place
Deuteronomy 21
New Living Translation
Cleansing for Unsolved Murder
21 “When you are in the land the Lord your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don’t know who committed the murder. 2 In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns. 3 When the nearest town has been determined, that town’s elders must select from the herd a heifer that has never been trained or yoked to a plow. 4 They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the heifer’s neck. 5 Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the Lord’s name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases.
6 “The elders of the town must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken. 7 Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person’s blood, nor did we see it happen. 8 O Lord, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.’ Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person’s blood. 9 By following these instructions, you will do what is right in the Lord’s sight and will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community.
Marriage to a Captive Woman
10 “Suppose you go out to war against your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you, and you take some of them as captives. 11 And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her. 12 If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails, 13 and change the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. She will stay in your home, but let her mourn for her father and mother for a full month. Then you may marry her, and you will be her husband and she will be your wife. 14 But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her.
Rights of the Firstborn
15 “Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love. 16 When the man divides his inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves, as if he were the firstborn son. 17 He must recognize the rights of his oldest son, the son of the wife he does not love, by giving him a double portion. He is the first son of his father’s virility, and the rights of the firstborn belong to him.
Dealing with a Rebellious Son
18 “Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. 19 In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. 20 The parents must say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his town must stone him to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.
Various Regulations
22 “If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree,[a] 23 the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung[b] is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
