Deuteronomy 21:1-14 ▼

1 “When one is found slain, fallen in a field on the ground which your God YHWH is giving to you to possess it, [and] it is not known who has struck him,

2 then your elderly and yours [of those] judging have gone out and measured to the cities which [are] around the slain one,

3 and it has been, the city which [is] near to the slain one, even [the] elderly of that city have taken a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked with, which has not drawn in a yoke,

4 and [the] elderly of that city have brought down the heifer to a hard valley, which is not tilled nor sown, and have beheaded the heifer there in the valley.

5 And the priests, sons of Levi, have come near—for your God YHWH has fixed on them to serve Him and to bless in the Name of YHWH, and by their mouth is every strife and every stroke—

6 and all [the] elderly of that city, who are near to the slain one, wash their hands over the heifer which is beheaded in the valley,

7 and they have answered and said, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen—

8 receive atonement for Your people Israel, whom You have ransomed, O YHWH, and do not permit innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel; and the blood has been pardoned to them,

9 and you put away the innocent blood out of your midst, for you do that which [is] right in the eyes of YHWH.

10 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and your God YHWH has given them into your hand, and you have taken captive its captivity,

11 and have seen a woman of beautiful form in the captivity, and have delighted in her, and have taken [her] to yourself for a wife,

12 then you have brought her into the midst of your household, and she has shaved her head, and prepared her nails,

13 and turned aside the raiment of her captivity from off her, and has dwelt in your house, and lamented her father and her mother [for] a month of days, and afterward you go in to her and have married her, and she has been to you for a wife.

14 And it has been, if you have not delighted in her, that you have sent her away at her desire, and surely you do not sell her for money; you do not tyrannize over her, because that you have humbled her.