Deuteronomy 21

1 If, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you come across the dead body of a man in the open country, and you have no idea who has put him to death:

And if one be found slain with the sword in the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit, having fallen in the field, and they do not know who has smitten [him];

2 Then your responsible men and your judges are to come out, and give orders for the distance from the dead body to the towns round about it to be measured;

thine elders and thy judges shall come forth, and shall measure the distances of the cities round about the slain man:

3 And whichever town is nearest to the body, the responsible men of that town are to take from the herd a young cow which has never been used for work or put under the yoke;

and it shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not laboured, and which has not borne a yoke.

4 And they are to take the cow into a valley where there is flowing water, and which is not ploughed or planted, and there the neck of the cow is to be broken:

And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer into a rough valley, which has not been tilled and is not sown, and they shall slay the heifer in the valley.

5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, are to come near; for they have been marked out by the Lord your God to be his servants and to give blessings in the name of the Lord; and by their decision every argument and every blow is to be judged:

And the priests the Levites shall come, because the Lord God has chosen them to stand by him, and to bless in his name, and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be [decided].

6 And all the responsible men of that town which is nearest to the dead man, washing their hands over the cow whose neck was broken in the valley,

And all the elders of that city who draw nigh to the slain man shall wash their hands over the head of the heifer which was slain in the valley;

7 Will say, This death is not the work of our hands and our eyes have not seen it.

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

8 Have mercy, O Lord, on your people Israel whom you have made free, and take away from your people the crime of a death without cause. Then they will no longer be responsible for the man's death.

Be merciful to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, O Lord, that innocent blood may not be charged on thy people Israel: and the blood shall be atoned for to them.

9 So you will take away the crime of a death without cause from among you, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

And thou shalt take away innocent blood from among you, if thou shouldest do that which is good and pleasing before the Lord thy God.

10 When you go out to war against other nations, and the Lord your God gives them up into your hands and you take them as prisoners;

And if when thou goest out to war against thine enemies, the Lord thy God should deliver them into thine hands, and thou shouldest take their spoil,

11 If among the prisoners you see a beautiful woman and it is your desire to make her your wife;

and shouldest see among the spoil a woman beautiful in countenance, and shouldest desire her, and take her to thyself for a wife,

12 Then take her back to your house; and let her hair and her nails be cut;

and shouldest bring her within thine house: then shalt thou shave her head, and pare her nails;

13 And let her take off the dress in which she was made prisoner and go on living in your house and weeping for her father and mother for a full month: and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she will be your wife.

and shalt take away her garments of captivity from off her, and she shall abide in thine house, and shall bewail her father and mother the days of a month; and afterwards thou shalt go in to her and dwell with her, and she shall be thy wife.

14 But if you have no delight in her, you are to let her go wherever she will; you may not take a price for her as if she was your property, for you have made use of her for your pleasure.

And it shall be if thou do not delight in her, thou shalt send her out free; and she shall not by any means be sold for money, thou shalt not treat her contemptuously, because thou hast humbled her.

15 If a man has two wives, one greatly loved and the other hated, and the two of them have had children by him; and if the first son is the child of the hated wife:

And if a man have two wives, the one loved and the other hated, and both the loved and the hated should have born him [children], and the son of the hated should be first-born;

16 Then when he gives his property to his sons for their heritage, he is not to put the son of his loved one in the place of the first son, the son of the hated wife:

then it shall be that whensoever he shall divide by inheritance his goods to his sons, he shall not be able to give the right of the first-born to the son of the loved one, having overlooked the son of the hated, which is the first-born.

17 But he is to give his first son his birthright, and twice as great a part of his property: for he is the first-fruits of his strength and the right of the first son is his.

But he shall acknowledge the first-born of the hated one to give to him double of all things which shall be found by him, because he is the first of his children, and to him belongs the birthright.

18 If a man has a son who is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, who gives no attention to the voice of his father and mother, and will not be ruled by them, though they give him punishment:

And if any man has a disobedient and contentious son, who hearkens not to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother, and they should correct him, and he should not hearken to them;

19 Then let his father and mother take him to the responsible men of the town, to the public place;

then shall his father and his mother take hold of him, and bring him forth to the elders of his city, and to the gate of the place:

20 And say to them, This son of ours is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, he will not give attention to us; he gives himself up to pleasure and strong drink.

and they shall say to the men of their city, This our son is disobedient and contentious, he hearkens not to our voice, he is a reveler and a drunkard.

21 Then he is to be stoned to death by all the men of the town: so you are to put away the evil from among you; and all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear.

And the men of his city shall stone him with stones, and he shall die; and thou shalt remove the evil one from yourselves, and the rest shall hear and fear.

22 If a man does a crime for which the punishment is death, and he is put to death by hanging him on a tree;

And if there be sin in any one, [and] the judgment of death [be upon him], and he be put to death, and ye hang him on a tree:

23 Do not let his body be on the tree all night, but put it to rest in the earth the same day; for the man who undergoes hanging is cursed by God; so do not make unclean the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.

his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but ye shall by all means bury it in that day; for every one that is hanged on a tree is cursed of God; and ye shall by no means defile the land which the Lord thy God gives thee for an inheritance.