| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1“If in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, | 1If a homicide victim should be found lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you, and no one knows who killed him, |
| 2then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. | 2your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. |
| 3And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke. | 3Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked--that has never pulled with the yoke-- |
| 4And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. | 4and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. There at the wadi they are to break the heifer's neck. |
| 5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. | 5Then the Levitical priests will approach (for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, and to decide every judicial verdict) |
| 6And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, | 6and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. |
| 7and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. | 7Then they must proclaim, "Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we witnessed the crime. |
| 8Accept atonement, O LORD, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ | 8Do not blame your people Israel whom you redeemed, O LORD, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person." Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. |
| 9So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. | 9In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before the LORD. |
| 10“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, | 10When you go out to do battle with your enemies and the LORD your God allows you to prevail and you take prisoners, |
| 11and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, | 11if you should see among them an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife, |
| 12and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. | 12you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, |
| 13And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. | 13discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, and stay in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations with her and become her husband and she your wife. |
| 14But if you no longer delight in her, you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her. | 14If you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go where she pleases. You cannot in any case sell her; you must not take advantage of her, since you have already humiliated her. |
| 15“If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, | 15Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, and they both bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife. |
| 16then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, | 16In the day he divides his inheritance he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other wife's son who is actually the firstborn. |
| 17but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his. | 17Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved wife as firstborn and give him the double portion of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father's procreative power--to him should go the right of the firstborn. |
| 18“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, | 18If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, |
| 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, | 19his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. |
| 20and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ | 20They must declare to the elders of his city, "Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say--he is a glutton and drunkard." |
| 21Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear. | 21Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out wickedness from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid. |
| 22“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, | 22If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse on a tree, |
| 23his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance. | 23his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury him that same day, for the one who is left exposed on a tree is cursed by God. You must not defile your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. |
|
