Deuteronomy 21

1 “Suppose someone has been murdered in a field in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, and you do not know who killed that person.

Someone may be found murdered, lying in a field in the country that the Lord your God is giving you to own, and nobody knows who killed them.

2 [If that happens], your elders and judges must go out to where that person’s corpse was found and measure the distance from there to each of the nearby towns.

Your elders and judges must come and measure the distance from the body to the surrounding towns.

3 Then the elders in the town that is closest to where the corpse was found must select a young cow that has never been used for doing work.

Then the elders of the town that's found to be nearest to the body shall take a cow that has never been put under a yoke or used for work.

4 They must take it to a place near a stream where the ground has never been plowed or planted. They must break its neck there in that valley.

Take the cow to a valley that has a stream running through it and whose ground has never been plowed or sown. Break the cow's neck there beside the stream.

5 The priests must go there also, because Yahweh our God has chosen them from the tribe of Levi to serve him and to be his representatives [MTY] when they bless people. And he has also chosen them to settle disputes in which someone has been injured.

The Levitical priests must be there too, because the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to give blessings in his name, and to decide on legal disputes and cases of assault.

6 The elders from the closest town must wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken,

Then all the elders of the town nearest the body are to wash their hands in the stream over the dead cow, saying,

7 and they must say, ‘We did not murder this person [MTY], and we did not see who did it.

“We had nothing to do with this murder, and we didn't see who did it.

8 Yahweh, forgive us, your Israeli people whom you rescued [from Egypt]. Do not consider (us to be guilty/that we should be punished because) of murdering someone who (is innocent/had not done something that is wrong). Instead, forgive us.’

Lord, please forgive your people Israel who you rescued, and do not hold them guilty of shedding of innocent blood In this way the guilt for shedding blood will be forgiven.”

9 By doing that, you will be doing what Yahweh considers to be right, and you will not be considered to be guilty for murdering that person.”

This is how you are to remove from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the Lord's sight.

10 “When you [soldiers] go to fight against your enemies, and Yahweh our God enables you to defeat them [IDM], and (they become your prisoners/you capture them),

When you go to war with your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you in defeat, and you capture them,

11 one of you may see among them a beautiful woman that he likes, and he may want to marry her.

you may see that one of them is a beautiful woman who you like and want to marry.

12 He should take her to his home, and there she must shave [all the hair off] her head and cut her fingernails [to signify that now she does not belong to her people-group any more, but instead she is becoming an Israeli].

Take her home and have her shave her head, cut her nails,

13 She must take off the clothes that she was wearing when she was captured, [and put on Israeli clothes]. She must stay in that man’s house and mourn for a month because of [leaving] her parents. After that, he will be allowed to marry her.

and get rid of the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. After she has lived in your home and has finished her month of mourning for her father and mother, you may sleep with her and marry her, and she shall be your wife.

14 Later, if he no longer is pleased with her, he will be permitted to allow her to leave him. But because she was forced to have sex with him, he will not be allowed to treat her like a slave [and sell her to someone else].”

However, if you are not happy with her, you must let her leave and go wherever she wants. You are not allowed to sell her for money or treat her like a slave, because you have brought shame on her.

15 “Suppose that a man has two wives, but he likes one of them and dislikes the other one. And suppose that they both give birth to sons, and the oldest son is the child of the woman that he does not like.

If a man has two wives, one he loves and one he doesn't, and both have sons by him, but the firstborn son is from the wife he doesn't love,

16 On the day when that man decides how he will divide his possessions for his sons to possess [after he dies], he must not favor the son of the wife that he loves by giving him [a bigger share, ] the share that the older son should receive.

when the time comes for the man to decide what each son will inherit from him, he must not prefer the son of wife he loves and treat him as the firstborn instead of the son of the wife he doesn't love.

17 He must give to the older son, the son of the wife whom he does not like, twice as much of his possessions. That son is his firstborn son, and he must be given the share that he should receive because of his being that man’s firstborn son.”

No. He is to recognize the firstborn, the son of the wife he doesn't love through the usual custom of giving him a double portion of all that he owns. The firstborn son is the firstfruits of his father's strength, and so the rights of the firstborn are his.

18 “Suppose there is a boy who is very stubborn and always (rebelling against/disobeying) [his parents], and who will not heed what they say to him. And suppose that they punish him but he still does not pay attention to what they tell him [MTY].

If someone has a obstinate and rebellious son who doesn't obey his parents and doesn't obey them even when he's punished,

19 If that happens, his parents must take him to the (gate of/central meeting place in) the city where he lives and have him stand in front of the elders of the city.

his parents must take him to the town elders, to the court in his hometown,

20 Then the parents must say to the elders of that city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and always rebelling against us. He will not pay attention to what we tell him [MTY]. He wastes a lot of money (OR, eats too much food) and gets drunk.’

and tell them, “Our son is obstinate and rebellious, He doesn't obey us. He's a worthless drunk!”

21 Then all the elders of that city must execute him by throwing stones at him. By doing that, you will get rid of this evil practice among you. And everyone in Israel will hear [about what happened] and they will be afraid [to do what he did].”

Then all the men of his home town will stone him to death. You must eliminate the evil from among you, and every Israelite will hear about it and be afraid.

22 “If someone is executed for having committed a crime for which he deserves to die, and you hang his corpse on a post,

If someone commits a crime punishable by death, and the person is executed by hanging on a tree,

23 you must not allow his corpse to remain there all night. You must bury it on the day that he died, because [God] has cursed anyone whose corpse is allowed to remain on a post. [You must bury the corpse that day], in order that you do not defile the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you.”

don't leave the body hanging there overnight. Make sure you bury the body the same day, because anyone who is hung is under God's curse. Don't defile the country that the Lord your God is giving you to own.