| NET Bible | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 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, | 1"If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him, |
| 2your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. | 2then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. |
| 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-- | 3"It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; |
| 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. | 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 shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. |
| 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) | 5"Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. |
| 6and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. | 6"All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; |
| 7Then they must proclaim, "Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we witnessed the crime. | 7and they shall answer and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. |
| 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. | 8'Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.' And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. |
| 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. | 9"So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD. |
| 10When you go out to do battle with your enemies and the LORD your God allows you to prevail and you take prisoners, | 10"When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive, |
| 11if you should see among them an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife, | 11and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, |
| 12you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, | 12then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. |
| 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. | 13"She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and mourn her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. |
| 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. | 14"It shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for money, you shall not mistreat her, because you have humbled her. |
| 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. | 15"If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, |
| 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. | 16then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn. |
| 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. | 17"But 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 beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the firstborn. |
| 18If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, | 18"If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, |
| 19his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. | 19then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. |
| 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." | 20"They shall say to the elders of his city, '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 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. | 21"Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear. |
| 22If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse on a tree, | 22"If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, |
| 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. | 23his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance. |
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