Deuteronomy 21:1-9
Evangelical Heritage Version
Unsolved Murders
21 In the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, if a person who has been killed is found lying in the open country and it is not known who struck him down, 2 then your elders and your judges are to go out and measure the distance from the person who was killed to each of the surrounding towns.
3 The elders of the city that is closest to the person who was killed are to take a heifer that has not been worked and has not pulled with a yoke. 4 The elders of that city are to bring the heifer down to a gully that has a flowing stream and that has not been plowed and sown, and they are to break the neck of the heifer there in the gully.
5 Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, are to come near, because the Lord your God has chosen them to serve and to bless you in the name of the Lord, and every dispute and every case of assault is to be decided according to their ruling. 6 Then all the elders of the city closest to the person who was killed are to wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the gully.
7 Then they are to testify by saying, “Our hands did not pour out this blood, and our eyes did not observe it. 8 Atone, Lord, for your people whom you have redeemed, and do not charge us with taking innocent life among your people Israel.” Then their bloodguilt will be atoned for.
9 In this way you will purge away from among you the guilt of shedding the blood of an innocent person by doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
Read full chapter
Deuteronomy 21:1-9
Lexham English Bible
21 “If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it and is lying in the field, and it is not known who killed him,[a] 2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure the distance to the cities that are around the slain one. 3 And then[b] the nearest city to the slain one, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked with in the field, that has not pulled a yoke, 4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a wadi that flows with water all year[c] and that has not been plowed and has not been sown; then there they shall break the neck of the heifer in the wadi.[d] 5 Then the priests, the descendants[e] of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every case of assault will be subject to their ruling.[f] 6 And all of the elders of that city nearest to the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer with the broken neck in the wadi.[g] 7 And they shall declare, and they shall say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see what was done. 8 Forgive your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, Yahweh, and do not allow[h] the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, and let them be forgiven with regard to blood.’ 9 And so you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, because you must do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh.
Read full chapterNotas al pie
- Deuteronomy 21:1 Literally “struck/smote him”
- Deuteronomy 21:3 Literally “And it will happen”
- Deuteronomy 21:4 Literally “an ever-flowing wadi”
- Deuteronomy 21:4 Literally “they shall break there the neck with respect to the heifer in the ever-flowing wadi”; the Hebrew verb carries the meaning “to break the neck of”
- Deuteronomy 21:5 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 21:5 Literally “on their mouth”
- Deuteronomy 21:6 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 21:8 Literally “place/put”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software