| New Living Translation | English Standard Version |
| 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. | 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, |
| 2In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns. | 2then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 6“The elders of the town must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken. | 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, |
| 7Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person’s blood, nor did we see it happen. | 7and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. |
| 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. | 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.’ |
| 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 | 9So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. |
| 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. | 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, |
| 11And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her. | 11and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, |
| 12If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails, | 12and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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 | 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. |
| 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. | 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, |
| 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. | 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, |
| 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 | 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. |
| 18“Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline 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, |
| 19In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. | 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, |
| 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.’ | 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.’ |
| 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 | 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. |
| 22“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree, | 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, |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
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