Deuteronomy 21

New American Standard Bible

Expiation of a Crime

21 “If a person who has been killed by someone is found lying in the open country in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to ^[a]possess, and it is not known who struck him, ²then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the one who was killed. ³And it shall be that the city which is nearest to the person killed, that is, that the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked ^[b]and has not pulled in a yoke; ⁴and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. ⁵Then ^(A)the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, because the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; and every dispute and ^[c]violent crime shall be ^[d]settled by them. ⁶And all the elders of that city ^[e]which is nearest to the person killed shall ^(B)wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; ⁷and they shall respond and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see who did. ⁸^[f]Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, Lord, and do not place the guilt for ^(C)innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the guilt for bloodshed shall be ^[g]forgiven them. ⁹^(D)So you shall remove the guilt for innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Domestic Relations

¹⁰“When you go out to battle against your enemies, and ^(E)the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them away captive, ¹¹and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and are strongly attracted to her and would take her as a wife for yourself, ¹²then you shall bring her into your home, and she shall ^(F)shave her head and ^[h]trim her nails. ¹³She shall also ^[i]remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and ^(G)weep for her father and mother a full month; and after that you may have relations with her and become her husband and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴But it shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go ^[j]wherever she wishes; and you certainly shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as merchandise, since you have ^[k]^(H)humiliated her.

¹⁵“If a man has two wives, the one loved and ^(I)the other ^[l]unloved, and both the loved and the ^[m]unloved have borne him sons, and the firstborn son belongs to the ^[n]unloved, ¹⁶then it shall be on the day that he wills what he owns as an inheritance to his sons, he is not allowed to treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, ^[o]at the expense of the son of the ^[p]unloved, who actually is the firstborn son. ¹⁷On the contrary, he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the ^[q]unloved wife, by giving him a double ^[r]portion of everything that ^[s]he owns, for he was the ^(J)beginning of his ^[t]strength; ^(K)to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

¹⁸“If any person has a stubborn and rebellious son who does ^(L)not obey his father or his mother, and when they discipline him, he does not listen to them, ¹⁹then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city ^[u]at the gateway of his hometown. ²⁰And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us, he is thoughtless and given to drinking.’ ²¹^(M)Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so ^(N)you shall eliminate the evil from your midst, and ^(O)all Israel will hear about it and fear.

²²“Now if ^[v]a person has committed a sin carrying ^(P)a sentence of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on ^[w]a tree, ²³^(Q)his body is not to be left overnight on the ^[x]tree, but you shall certainly bury him on the same day (for ^(R)he who is hanged is cursed of God), so that you ^(S)do not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 21:1 Lit possess it
Deuteronomy 21:3 Lit which has not
Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit blow
Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit according to their mouth
Deuteronomy 21:6 Lit who are
Deuteronomy 21:8 Lit Cover over, atone for
Deuteronomy 21:8 Lit covered over, atoned for
Deuteronomy 21:12 Lit do
Deuteronomy 21:13 Lit remove from her
Deuteronomy 21:14 Lit according to her soul
Deuteronomy 21:14 I.e., by a forced marriage
Deuteronomy 21:15 Or scorned; lit hated
Deuteronomy 21:15 Or scorned; lit hated
Deuteronomy 21:15 Or scorned; lit hated
Deuteronomy 21:16 Lit against the face of
Deuteronomy 21:16 See note v 15
Deuteronomy 21:17 See note v 15
Deuteronomy 21:17 Lit mouthful
Deuteronomy 21:17 Lit is found with him
Deuteronomy 21:17 I.e., power of procreation
Deuteronomy 21:19 Lit and to the gate of his place
Deuteronomy 21:22 Lit a sin is in a person carrying
Deuteronomy 21:22 Lit wood
Deuteronomy 21:23 Lit wood

Psalm 108-109

New American Standard Bible

God Praised and Pleas to Give Victory.

A Song, a Psalm of David.

108 ^(A)My heart is steadfast, God;
I will sing, I will sing praises also with my ^[a]soul.
²Awake, harp and lyre;
I will awaken the dawn!
³I will give thanks to You, Lord, among the peoples,
And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
⁴For Your ^(B)mercy is great ^(C)above the heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the skies.
⁵^(D)Be exalted above the heavens, God,
And may Your glory be above all the earth.
⁶^(E)So that Your beloved may be rescued,
Save with Your right hand, and answer me!

⁷God has spoken in His ^[b]holiness:
“I will triumph, I will divide up Shechem,
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
⁸Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the ^[c]helmet of My head;
^(F)Judah is My ^[d]scepter.
⁹Moab is My washbowl;
I will throw My sandal over Edom;
I will shout aloud over Philistia.”

¹⁰^(G)Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who ^[e]will lead me to Edom?
¹¹God, have You Yourself not ^(H)rejected us?
And will You not go forth with our armies, God?
¹²Give us help against the enemy,
For ^(I)deliverance ^[f]by man is worthless.
¹³^[g]Through God we will do valiantly,
And ^(J)it is He who will trample down our enemies.

Vengeance Invoked upon Adversaries.

For the music director. A Psalm of David.

109 ^(K)God of my praise,
^(L)Do not be silent!
²For they have opened a ^[h]wicked and ^(M)deceitful mouth against me;
They have spoken ^[i]against me with a ^(N)lying tongue.
³They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And have fought against me ^(O)without cause.
⁴In return ^(P)for my love they act as my accusers;
But ^(Q)I am in prayer.
⁵So they have ^[j]^(R)repaid me evil for good,
And ^(S)hatred for my love.

⁶Appoint a wicked person over him,
And may an ^[k]^(T)accuser stand at his right hand.
⁷When he is judged, may he ^(U)come out guilty,
And may his ^(V)prayer become sin.
⁸May ^(W)his days be few;
May ^(X)another take his office.
⁹May his ^(Y)children be fatherless,
And his ^(Z)wife a widow.
¹⁰May his ^(AA)children wander about and beg;
And may they ^(AB)seek sustenance ^[l]far from their ruined homes.
¹¹May ^(AC)the creditor ^[m]seize everything that he has,
And may ^(AD)strangers plunder the product of his labor.
¹²May there be none to ^[n]^(AE)extend kindness to him,
Nor ^(AF)any to be gracious to his fatherless children.
¹³May his ^(AG)descendants be ^[o]eliminated;
May their ^(AH)name be wiped out in a following generation.

¹⁴May ^(AI)the guilt of his fathers be remembered ^[p]before the Lord,
And do not let the sin of his mother be ^(AJ)wiped out.
¹⁵May ^(AK)they be before the Lord continually,
So that He may ^(AL)eliminate their memory from the earth;
¹⁶Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the ^(AM)afflicted and needy person,
And the ^(AN)despondent in heart, to ^(AO)put them to death.
¹⁷He also loved cursing, so ^(AP)it came to him;
And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.
¹⁸But he ^(AQ)clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
And it ^(AR)entered ^[q]his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
¹⁹May it be to him as ^(AS)a garment with which he covers himself,
And as a belt which he constantly ^(AT)wears around himself.
²⁰May this be the ^(AU)reward of my accusers from the Lord,
And of those who ^(AV)speak evil against my soul.

²¹But You, ^[r]God, the Lord, deal kindly with me ^(AW)for the sake of Your name;
Because ^(AX)Your mercy is good, rescue me;
²²For ^(AY)I am afflicted and needy,
And ^[s]my heart is ^(AZ)wounded within me.
²³I am passing ^(BA)like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off ^(BB)like the locust.
²⁴My ^(BC)knees ^[t]are weak from ^(BD)fasting,
And my flesh has grown lean, without fatness.
²⁵I also have become a ^(BE)disgrace to them;
When they see me, they ^(BF)shake their head.

²⁶^(BG)Help me, Lord my God;
Save me according to Your mercy.
²⁷^[u]And may they ^(BH)know that this is Your hand;
You, Lord, have done it.
²⁸^(BI)They will curse, but You bless;
When they arise, they will be ashamed,
But Your ^(BJ)servant will be glad.
²⁹^[v]May ^(BK)my accusers be clothed with dishonor,
And ^[w]may they ^(BL)cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.

³⁰With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord;
And ^(BM)I will praise Him in the midst of many.
³¹For He stands ^(BN)at the right hand of the needy,
To save him from those who ^(BO)judge his soul.