Deuteronomy 21:1-9
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.
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- 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).
- Deuteronomy 21:1 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Deuteronomy 21:1 tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
- Deuteronomy 21:2 tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”
- Deuteronomy 21:3 tn Heb “slain [one].”
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 21:4 sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity—of freedom from human contamination.
- Deuteronomy 21:5 tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 21:5 tn Heb “by their mouth.”
- Deuteronomy 21:5 tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”
- Deuteronomy 21:6 tn Heb “slain [one].”
- Deuteronomy 21:6 tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.
- 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).
- Deuteronomy 21:7 tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Deuteronomy 21:8 tn Heb “Atone for.”
- Deuteronomy 21:8 tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”
- Deuteronomy 21:9 tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).
Deuteronomy 21:1-9
Christian Standard Bible
Unsolved Murders
21 “If a murder victim is found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, 2 your elders and judges are to come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby cities. 3 The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work. 4 The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream. 5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and pronounce blessings in his name, and they are to give a ruling in[a] every dispute and case of assault. 6 All the elders of the city nearest to the victim will wash their hands by the stream over the young cow whose neck has been broken. 7 They will declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it. 8 Lord, wipe away the guilt of your people Israel whom you redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.’ Then the responsibility for bloodshed will be wiped away from them. 9 You must purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, for you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight.
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- 21:5 Lit and according to their mouth will be
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