Deuteronomy 21:1-22:12

New King James Version

The Law Concerning Unsolved Murder

21 “If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, ² then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities. ³ And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer which has not been worked and which has not pulled with a ^(A)yoke. ⁴ The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. ⁵ Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for ^(B)the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; ^(C)by their word every controversy and every ^[a]assault shall be settled. ⁶ And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man ^(D)shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. ⁷ Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. ⁸ Provide atonement, O Lord, for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, ^(E)and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood. ⁹ So ^(F)you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

Female Captives

¹⁰ “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, ¹¹ and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your ^(G)wife, ¹² then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall ^(H)shave her head and trim her nails. ¹³ She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and ^(I)mourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴ And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have ^(J)humbled her.

Firstborn Inheritance Rights

¹⁵ “If a man has two wives, one loved ^(K)and the other unloved, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son is of her who is unloved, ¹⁶ then it shall be, ^(L)on the day he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true firstborn. ¹⁷ But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn ^(M)by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he ^(N)is the beginning of his strength; ^(O)the right of the firstborn is his.

The Rebellious Son

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 who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, ¹⁹ then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. ²⁰ And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ ²¹ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; ^(P)so you shall put away the evil from among you, ^(Q)and all Israel shall hear and fear.

Miscellaneous Laws

²² “If a man has committed a sin ^(R)deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, ^23 (S)his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that ^(T)you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for ^(U)he who is hanged is accursed of God.

Various Laws of Morality

22 “You ^(V)shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, and ^[b]hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother. ² And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. ³ You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise; you ^[c]must not hide yourself.

^4 (W)“You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely help him lift them up again.

⁵ “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are ^[d]an abomination to the Lord your God.

⁶ “If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, ^(X)you shall not take the mother with the young; ⁷ you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, ^(Y)that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

⁸ “When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it.

^9 (Z)“You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled.

^10 (AA)“You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

^11 (AB)“You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.

¹² “You shall make ^(AC)tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself.