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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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Footnotes

  1. 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).
  2. Deuteronomy 21:1 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  3. Deuteronomy 21:1 tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
  4. Deuteronomy 21:2 tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”
  5. Deuteronomy 21:3 tn Heb “slain [one].”
  6. 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.
  7. Deuteronomy 21:4 sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity—of freedom from human contamination.
  8. Deuteronomy 21:5 tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”
  9. 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.
  10. Deuteronomy 21:5 tn Heb “by their mouth.”
  11. Deuteronomy 21:5 tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”
  12. Deuteronomy 21:6 tn Heb “slain [one].”
  13. Deuteronomy 21:6 tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.
  14. 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).
  15. Deuteronomy 21:7 tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  16. Deuteronomy 21:8 tn Heb “Atone for.”
  17. Deuteronomy 21:8 tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”
  18. Deuteronomy 21:9 tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).
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Deuteronomy 21:1-9
Expanded Bible

A Person Found Murdered

21 Suppose ·someone is found murdered [L a corpse], lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your ·own [possession], and no one knows who ·killed [L struck] the person. 2 Your elders and judges should go to where the ·body [L corpse] was found, and they should measure how far it is to the nearby cities. 3 The elders of the city nearest the body must take a ·young cow [heifer] that has never worked or ·worn [L pulled] a yoke, 4 and they must lead her down to a ·valley [wadi] that has never been plowed or planted, with a ·stream [wadi] flowing through it. There they must break the ·young cow’s [heifer’s] neck. 5 The priests, the sons of Levi, should come forward, because they have been chosen by the Lord your God to serve him and to give blessings in the Lord’s name. They are the ones who decide cases of ·quarreling [accusation] and attacks. 6 Then all the elders of the city nearest the ·murdered person [L corpse] should wash their hands over the ·young cow [heifer] whose neck was broken in the ·valley [wadi]. 7 They should declare: “·We did not kill this person [L Our hands did not spill this blood], and ·we [L our eyes] did not see it happen. 8 Lord, ·remove this sin from [make atonement for] your people Israel, whom you have ·saved [redeemed; ransomed]. Don’t ·blame your people, the Israelites, for the murder of this innocent person [L place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel].” And so the murder will be ·paid [atoned] for. 9 Then you will have ·removed [banished; purged] from yourselves the guilt of ·murdering an innocent person [innocent blood], because you will be doing what ·the Lord says is right [L is right/virtuous in the eyes of the Lord].

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