| New King James Version | New Living Translation |
| 1“If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, | 1“When you are in the land the LORD your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don’t know who committed the murder. |
| 2then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities. | 2In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns. |
| 3And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer which has not been worked and which has not pulled with a yoke. | 3When the nearest town has been determined, that town’s elders must select from the herd a heifer that has never been trained or yoked to a plow. |
| 4The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. | 4They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the heifer’s neck. |
| 5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; by their word every controversy and every assault shall be settled. | 5Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the LORD’s name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases. |
| 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. | 6“The elders of the town must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken. |
| 7Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. | 7Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person’s blood, nor did we see it happen. |
| 8Provide atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood. | 8O LORD, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.’ Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person’s blood. |
| 9So you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. | 9By following these instructions, you will do what is right in the LORD’s sight and will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community. Marriage to a Captive Woman |
| 10“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, | 10“Suppose you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you, and you take some of them as captives. |
| 11and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your wife, | 11And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her. |
| 12then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. | 12If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails, |
| 13She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and mourn 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 change the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. She will stay in your home, but let her mourn for her father and mother for a full month. Then you may marry her, and you will be her husband and she will be your wife. |
| 14And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have humbled her. | 14But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her. Rights of the Firstborn |
| 15“If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son is of her who is unloved, | 15“Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love. |
| 16then it shall be, on the day he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true firstborn. | 16When the man divides his inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves, as if he were the firstborn son. |
| 17But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his. | 17He must recognize the rights of his oldest son, the son of the wife he does not love, by giving him a double portion. He is the first son of his father’s virility, and the rights of the firstborn belong to him. Dealing with a Rebellious Son |
| 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 who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, | 18“Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. |
| 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. | 19In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. |
| 20And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ | 20The parents must say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ |
| 21Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear. | 21Then all the men of his town must stone him to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid. Various Regulations |
| 22“If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, | 22“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree, |
| 23his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. | 23the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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