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.

If someone is found killed in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has attacked him;

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.

then your elders and your judges must go out, and they must measure to the cities that are around him who has been killed.

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 nearest to the dead man's body must take a heifer from the herd, one that has never been put to work, and that has not borne the yoke.

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.

Then they must lead the heifer down to a valley with running water, a valley that has been neither plowed nor sown, and there in the valley they must break the heifer's neck.

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 priests, descendants of Levi, must come forward, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve him and give blessing in the name of Yahweh and to decide every case of dispute and assault by their word.

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

All the elders of the city that is the nearest to the killed man must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;

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

and they must answer to the case and say, 'Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen 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.’

Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not put guilt for innocent bloodshed in the midst of your people Israel.' Then the bloodshed will be forgiven them.

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.”

In this way you will put away the innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.

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 out to do battle against your enemies and Yahweh your God gives you victory and puts them under your control, and you take them away as captives,

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

if you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have a desire for her and wish to take her for yourself as a wife,

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].

then you will bring her home to your house; she will shave her head and 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.

Then she will take off the clothes she was wearing when she was taken captive and she will remain in your house and mourn for her father and her mother a full month. After that you may sleep with her and be her husband, and she will 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].”

But if you take no delight in her, then you may let her go where she wishes. But you must not sell her at all for money, and you must not treat her like a slave, because you have humiliated 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 and one is loved and the other is hated, and they have both borne him children—both the beloved wife and the hated wife—if the firstborn son is of her that is hated,

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.

then on the day that the man causes his sons to inherit what he possesses, he may not make the son of the beloved wife the firstborn before the son of the hated wife, the son who is actually the firstborn.

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.”

Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he possesses; for that son is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.

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 a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, even though they correct him, will not listen to them;

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.

then his father and his mother must lay hold on him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his city.

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.’

They must say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.'

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 city must stone him to death with stones; and you will remove the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and fear.

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 a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him 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.”

then his body must not remain all night on the tree. Instead, you must surely bury him the same day; for whoever is hanged is cursed by God. Obey this commandment so that you do not defile the land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance.