| English Standard Version | New International Version |
| 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 someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was, |
| 2then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. | 2your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. |
| 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 town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a 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 lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley 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. | 5The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the LORD and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. |
| 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, | 6Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall 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. | 7and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. |
| 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.’ | 8Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person." Then the bloodshed will be atoned for, |
| 9So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. | 9and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of 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 to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, |
| 11and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, | 11if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. |
| 12and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. | 12Bring her into your home and have her 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. | 13and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be 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, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored 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, | 15If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, |
| 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, | 16when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. |
| 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. | 17He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him. |
| 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 someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, |
| 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 shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. |
| 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 shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a 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 town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of 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 someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, |
| 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. | 23you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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