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
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.
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- 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”
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