Deuteronomy 21

Modern

Literal

Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

¹If 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,

¹If one slain is found in the land that YHWH your God is giving you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who killed him,

²your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.

²then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure to the cities that are surrounding the slain one.

³Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work,

³And it shall be that the city nearest to the slain man, the elders of that city will take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked in it and which has not pulled with a yoke,

⁴bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.

⁴and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to an enduring valley, which neither is plowed nor sown, and they shall break the neck there of the heifer in the valley.

⁵And 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.

⁵And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near; for YHWH your God has chosen them to serve and to bless in the name of YHWH, and by their mouth shall be settled every controversy and every assault.

⁶Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken,

⁶And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain one shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,

⁷and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

⁷and they shall answer and say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it.

⁸Accept 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.

⁸Receive atonement for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, O YHWH, and lay not innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.” And for the blood atonement shall be provided to them.

⁹So 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.

⁹And you shall remove the innocent blood from among you when you do right in the eyes of YHWH.

Marrying a Captive Woman

¹⁰When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,

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

¹¹if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife,

¹¹and you see among the captives a woman beautiful in appearance, and you have delighted in her and would take her as your wife,

¹²then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,

¹²you shall bring her into the midst of your household, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails,

¹³and 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.

¹³and she shall remove the clothes of her captivity from her and remain in your house and mourn her father and her mother a full month. And after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be to you wife.

¹⁴And 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.

¹⁴And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, that you send her away at her desire. And surely you shall not sell her for silver, nor shall you treat her brutally, upon that you have humbled her.

Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn

¹⁵If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son,

¹⁵If a man has two wives, one loved and one hated, and they have borne to him sons, the loved and the hated, and the firstborn son is to the hated one,

¹⁶when 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.

¹⁶then it shall come to pass on the day he assigns his inheritance to his sons that are to him, that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife over the face of the son of the hated one, the firstborn.

¹⁷Instead, 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.

¹⁷But the firstborn son of the hated wife he shall acknowledge by giving him a double portion of all that is found to him, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him is the right of the firstborn.

A Rebellious Son

¹⁸If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,

¹⁸If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not listen to the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and they have disciplined him and he will not listen to them,

¹⁹his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,

¹⁹then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his city,

²⁰and say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”

²⁰and they shall say to the elders of his city, “Our son, this one, is stubborn and rebellious; he will not listen to our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.”

²¹Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you,^a and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

²¹And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones to death; and you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall listen and fear.

Cursed Is Anyone Hung on a Tree

²²If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,^a

²²And if a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

²³you 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.^a You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

²³his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the day—for cursed of God is he who is hanged on a tree—so that you do not defile the land that YHWH your God is giving to you as an inheritance.