Deuteronomy 21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Law concerning Murder by Persons Unknown
21 “If, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, a body is found lying in open country, and it is not known who struck the person down,(A) 2 then your elders and your judges shall come out to measure the distances to the towns that are near the body. 3 The elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked, one that has not pulled in the yoke; 4 the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi. 5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord, and by their decision all cases of dispute and assault shall be settled.(B) 6 All the elders of that town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi, 7 and they shall declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to it. 8 Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel, whom you redeemed; do not let the guilt of innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.’ Then they will be absolved of bloodguilt.(C) 9 So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, because you must do what is right in the sight of the Lord.(D)
Female Captives
10 “When you go out to war against your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them captive, 11 suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman whom you desire and want to marry, 12 and so you bring her home to your house: she shall shave her head, pare her nails,(E) 13 discard her captive’s garb, and remain in your house a full month mourning for her father and mother; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 But if you are not satisfied with her, you shall let her go free and certainly not sell her for money. You must not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.
The Right of the Firstborn
15 “If a man has two wives, one of them loved and the other disliked, and if both the loved and the disliked have borne him sons, the firstborn being the son of the one who is disliked, 16 then on the day when he wills his possessions to his sons, he is not permitted to treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the firstborn.(F) 17 He must acknowledge as firstborn the son of the one who is disliked, giving him a double portion[a] of all that he has; since he is the first issue of his virility, the right of the firstborn is his.(G)
Rebellious Children
18 “If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him,(H) 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place. 20 They shall say to the elders of his town, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.(I)
Miscellaneous Laws
22 “When someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and is executed and you hang him on a tree, 23 his corpse must not remain all night upon the tree; you must bury him that same day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you for possession.(J)
Footnotes
- 21.17 Heb two-thirds
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
- Deuteronomy 21:4 Lit. The elders of the city
- Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit. in the name of the Lord your God
- Deuteronomy 21:8 Lit. against your people Israel
- Deuteronomy 21:13 Lit. may go in to her,
- Deuteronomy 21:15 Lit. the one who is loved and who is not loved
- Deuteronomy 21:17 The Heb. lacks father’s
- Deuteronomy 21:18 Lit. obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother
- Deuteronomy 21:19 Lit. his father and his mother
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