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Deuteronomy 21
World English Bible

21 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 then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain. 3 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 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 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 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 They shall answer and say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. 8 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 So you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’s eyes.

10 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 and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her, and desire to take her as your wife, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house. She shall shave her head and trim her nails. 13 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 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.

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Deuteronomy 21
New English Translation

Laws Concerning Unsolved Murder

21 If a homicide victim[a] should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you,[b] and no one knows who killed[c] him, 2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse.[d] 3 Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse[e] must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked—that has never pulled with the yoke— 4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water,[f] to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown.[g] There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck. 5 Then the Levitical priests[h] will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name,[i] and to decide[j] every judicial verdict[k]) , 6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse[l] must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.[m] 7 Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we[n] witnessed the crime.[o] 8 Do not blame[p] your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.”[q] Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. 9 In this manner you will purge the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before[r] the Lord.

Laws Concerning Female Captives

10 When you go out to do battle with your enemies and the Lord your God allows you to prevail[s] and you take prisoners, 11 if you should see among them[t] an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife, 12 you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head,[u] trim her nails, 13 discard the clothing she was wearing when captured,[v] and stay[w] in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may sleep with her[x] and become her husband and she your wife. 14 If you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go[y] where she pleases. You cannot in any case sell[z] her;[aa] you must not take advantage of[ab] her, since you have already humiliated[ac] her.

Laws Concerning Children

15 Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other,[ad] and they both[ae] bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less-loved wife. 16 In the day he divides his inheritance[af] he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other wife’s[ag] son who is actually the firstborn. 17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less-loved wife[ah] as firstborn and give him the double portion[ai] of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power[aj]—to him should go the right of the firstborn.

18 If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail,[ak] 19 his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. 20 They must declare to the elders[al] of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say—he is a glutton and drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge[am] wickedness from among you, and all Israel[an] will hear about it and be afraid.

Disposition of a Criminal’s Remains

22 If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse[ao] on a tree, 23 his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury[ap] him that same day, for the one who is left exposed[aq] on a tree is cursed by God.[ar] You must not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 21:1 tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).
  2. Deuteronomy 21:1 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  3. Deuteronomy 21:1 tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
  4. Deuteronomy 21:2 tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”
  5. Deuteronomy 21:3 tn Heb “slain [one].”
  6. Deuteronomy 21:4 tn The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi (נַחַל, nakhal) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.
  7. Deuteronomy 21:4 sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity—of freedom from human contamination.
  8. Deuteronomy 21:5 tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”
  9. Deuteronomy 21:5 tn Heb “in the name of the Lord.” See note on Deut 10:8. The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
  10. Deuteronomy 21:5 tn Heb “by their mouth.”
  11. Deuteronomy 21:5 tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”
  12. Deuteronomy 21:6 tn Heb “slain [one].”
  13. Deuteronomy 21:6 tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.
  14. Deuteronomy 21:7 tn Heb “our eyes.” This is a figure of speech known as synecdoche in which the part (the eyes) is put for the whole (the entire person).
  15. Deuteronomy 21:7 tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  16. Deuteronomy 21:8 tn Heb “Atone for.”
  17. Deuteronomy 21:8 tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”
  18. Deuteronomy 21:9 tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).
  19. Deuteronomy 21:10 tn Heb “gives him into your hands.”
  20. Deuteronomy 21:11 tn Heb “the prisoners.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
  21. Deuteronomy 21:12 sn This requirement for the woman to shave her head may symbolize the putting away of the old life and customs in preparation for being numbered among the people of the Lord. The same is true for the two following requirements.
  22. Deuteronomy 21:13 tn Heb “she is to…remove the clothing of her captivity” (cf. NASB); NRSV “discard her captive’s garb.”
  23. Deuteronomy 21:13 tn Heb “sit”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “remain.”
  24. Deuteronomy 21:13 tn The verb בּוֹא (boʾ; “to come”) with the preposition אֶל (ʾel; “to”) means “to approach, to come to” (HALOT 113 s.v. בּוֹא) and is a euphemism for coming together for sexual relations. A clearer euphemism has been used for the translation than the more literal “get together with.” See the note at 2 Sam 12:24 on this phrase being only a euphemism.
  25. Deuteronomy 21:14 sn Heb “send her off.” The Hebrew term שִׁלַּחְתָּה (shillakhtah) is a somewhat euphemistic way of referring to divorce, the matter clearly in view here (cf. Deut 22:19, 29; 24:1, 3; Jer 3:1; Mal 2:16). This passage does not have the matter of divorce as its principal objective, so it should not be understood as endorsing divorce generally. It merely makes the point that if grounds for divorce exist (see Deut 24:1-4), and then divorce ensues, the husband could in no way gain profit from it.
  26. Deuteronomy 21:14 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by the words “in any case.”
  27. Deuteronomy 21:14 tn The Hebrew text includes “for money.” This phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  28. Deuteronomy 21:14 tn Or perhaps “must not enslave her” (cf. ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); Heb “[must not] be tyrannical over.”
  29. Deuteronomy 21:14 sn You have humiliated her. Since divorce was considered rejection, the wife subjected to it would “lose face” in addition to the already humiliating event of having become a wife by force (21:11-13). Furthermore, the Hebrew verb translated “humiliated” here (עָנָה, ʿanah), commonly used to speak of rape (cf. Gen 34:2; 2 Sam 13:12, 14, 22, 32; Judg 19:24), likely has sexual overtones as well. The woman may not be enslaved or abused after the divorce because it would be double humiliation (see also E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy [NAC], 291).
  30. Deuteronomy 21:15 tn Heb “one whom he loves and one whom he hates.” For the idea of שָׂנֵא (saneʾ, “hate”) meaning to be rejected or loved less (cf. NRSV “disliked”), see Gen 29:31, 33; Mal 1:2-3. Cf. A. Konkel, NIDOTTE 3:1256-60.
  31. Deuteronomy 21:15 tn Heb “both the one whom he loves and the one whom he hates.” On the meaning of the phrase “one whom he loves and one whom he hates” see the note on the word “other” earlier in this verse. The translation has been simplified for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
  32. Deuteronomy 21:16 tn Heb “when he causes his sons to inherit what is his.”
  33. Deuteronomy 21:16 tn Heb “the hated.”
  34. Deuteronomy 21:17 tn See note on the word “other” in v. 15.
  35. Deuteronomy 21:17 tn Heb “measure of two.” The Hebrew expression פִּי שְׁנַיִם (pi shenayim) suggests a two-thirds split; that is, the elder gets two parts and the younger one part. Cf. 2 Kgs 2:9; Zech 13:8. The practice is implicit in Isaac’s blessing of Jacob (Gen 25:31-34) and Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim (Gen 48:8-22).
  36. Deuteronomy 21:17 tn Heb “his generative power” (אוֹן, ʾon; cf. HALOT 22 s.v.). Cf. NAB “the firstfruits of his manhood”; NRSV “the first issue of his virility.”
  37. Deuteronomy 21:18 tn Heb “and he does not listen to them.”
  38. Deuteronomy 21:20 tc The LXX and Smr read “to the men,” probably to conform to this phrase in v. 21. However, since judicial cases were the responsibility of the elders in such instances (cf. Deut 19:12; 21:3, 6; 25:7-8) the reading of the MT is likely original and correct here.
  39. Deuteronomy 21:21 tn The Hebrew term בִּעַרְתָּה (biʿartah), here and elsewhere in such contexts (cf. Deut 13:5; 17:7, 12; 19:19; 21:9), suggests God’s anger which consumes like fire (thus בָּעַר, baʿar, “to burn”). See H. Ringgren, TDOT 2:203-4.
  40. Deuteronomy 21:21 tc Some LXX traditions read הַנִּשְׁאָרִים (hannishʾarim, “those who remain”) for the MT’s יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisraʾel, “Israel”), understandable in light of Deut 19:20. However, the more difficult reading found in the MT is more likely original.
  41. Deuteronomy 21:22 tn Heb “him.”
  42. Deuteronomy 21:23 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates by “make certain.”
  43. Deuteronomy 21:23 tn Heb “hung,” but this could convey the wrong image in English (hanging with a rope as a means of execution). Cf. NCV “anyone whose body is displayed on a tree.”
  44. Deuteronomy 21:23 sn The idea behind the phrase cursed by God seems to be not that the person was impaled because he was cursed but that to leave him exposed there was to invite the curse of God upon the whole land. Why this would be so is not clear, though the rabbinic idea that even a criminal is created in the image of God may give some clue (thus J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy [JPSTC], 198). Paul cites this text (see Gal 3:13) to make the point that Christ, suspended from a cross, thereby took upon himself the curse associated with such a display of divine wrath and judgment (T. George, Galatians [NAC], 238-39).
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