Deuteronomy 21

Deuteronomy 21:1

If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,

Deuteronomy 21:1 · BSB

Deuteronomy 21:2

your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.

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Deuteronomy 21:3

Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work,

Deuteronomy 21:3 · BSB

Deuteronomy 21:4

bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.

Deuteronomy 21:4 · BSB

a rough valley As the word nachal signifies both a torrent , and the valley or glen through which it flows , nachal aithan may be rendered a rapid torrent. Many torrents in Judea are dry during a great part of the year; when not only their banks but their beds may be ploughed , and yield a crop. Hence there is no impropriety in specifying that such a place should be one that "is neither cared nor sown;" while the circumstance that the elders were to wash their hands over the heifer , whose head had been struck off into the stream , confirms this interpretation. The spot of ground where this sacrifice was made must be uncultivated , because it was considered as a sacrifice for the atonement of murder , and , consequently , would pollute the land.

Deuteronomy 21:5

And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.

Deuteronomy 21:5 · BSB

word Heb. mouth

Deuteronomy 21:6

Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken,

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Deuteronomy 21:7

and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

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Deuteronomy 21:8

Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for.

Deuteronomy 21:8 · BSB

unto thy people Heb. in the midst

Deuteronomy 21:9

So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

Deuteronomy 21:9 · BSB

Deuteronomy 21:10

When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,

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Deuteronomy 21:11

if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife,

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Deuteronomy 21:12

then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,

Deuteronomy 21:12 · BSB

pare her nails or , suffer to grow , Heb. make , or dress , Weâsethah eth tzipparneyha , "and she shall make her nails;" i.e. , probably neither paring nor letting them grow , but dressing or beautifying them as the Eastern women still do by tinging them with the leaves of an odoriferous plant called alhenna , which Hasselquist (p. 246) informs us , "grows in India and in upper and lower Egypt , flowering from May to August. The leaves are pulverized and made into a paste with water . they bind this paste on the nails of their hands and feet , and keep it on all night. This gives them a deep yellow , which is greatly admired by Eastern nations. The colour lasts for three or four weeks before there is occasion to renew it. The custom is so ancient in Egypt , that I have seen the nails of mummies dyed in this manner.

Deuteronomy 21:13

and put aside the clothing of her captivity. After she has lived in your house a full month and mourned her father and mother, you may have relations with her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

Deuteronomy 21:13 · BSB

Deuteronomy 21:14

And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

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Deuteronomy 21:15

If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son,

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Deuteronomy 21:16

when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife.

Deuteronomy 21:16 · BSB

Deuteronomy 21:17

Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his father’s strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.

Deuteronomy 21:17 · BSB

that he hath Heb. that is found with him

Deuteronomy 21:18

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,

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Deuteronomy 21:19

his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,

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Deuteronomy 21:20

and say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard."

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Deuteronomy 21:21

Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

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Deuteronomy 21:22

If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,

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Deuteronomy 21:23

you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 21:23 · BSB