Deuteronomy, 21

1. 'If, in the country which Yahweh your God gives you as your possession, a victim of murder is found lying in the open country and it is not known who has killed that person,

1. "If in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, any one is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him,

2. your elders and scribes must measure the distance between the victim and the surrounding towns,

2. then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are around him that is slain;

3. and establish which town is the nearest to the victim. The elders of that town must then take a heifer that has not yet been put to work or used as a draught animal under the yoke.

3. and the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer which has never been worked and which has not pulled in the yoke.

4. The elders of that town must bring the heifer down to a permanently flowing river, to a spot that has been neither ploughed nor sown, and there by the river they must break the heifer's neck.

4. And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

5. The priests, the sons of Levi, will then step forward, these being the men whom Yahweh your God has chosen to serve him and to bless in Yahweh's name, and it being their business to settle all cases of dispute or of violence.

5. And the priests the sons of Levi shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled.

6. All the elders of the town nearest to the victim of murder must then wash their hands in the stream, over the slaughtered heifer.

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

7. They must pronounce these words, "Our hands have not shed this blood and our eyes have seen nothing.

7. and they shall testify, `Our hands did not shed this blood, neither did our eyes see it shed.

8. O Yahweh, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed, and let no innocent blood be shed among your people Israel. May this bloodshed be forgiven them!"

8. Forgive, O LORD, thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and set not the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel; but let the guilt of blood be forgiven them.'

9. You must banish all shedding of innocent blood from among you, if you mean to do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.

9. So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD.

10. 'When you go to war against your enemies and Yahweh your God delivers them into your power and you take prisoners,

10. "When you go forth to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hands, and you take them captive,

11. and among the prisoners you see a beautiful woman, and you fall in love with her, and you take her to be your wife

11. and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have desire for her and would take her for yourself as wife,

12. and bring her home; she must shave her head and cut her nails,

12. then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails.

13. and take off her prisoner's garb; she must stay inside your house and mourn her father and mother for a full month. You may then go to her and be a husband to her, and she will be your wife.

13. And she shall put off her captive's garb, and shall remain in your house and bewail her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

14. Should she cease to please you, you will let her go where she wishes, not selling her for money: you must not make any profit out of her, since you have exploited her.

14. Then, if you have no delight in her, you shall let her go where she will; but you shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.

15. 'If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and the loved one and the unloved both bear him children, and if the first-born son is of the unloved wife,

15. "If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other disliked, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the disliked, and if the first-born son is hers that is disliked,

16. when the man comes to bequeath his goods to his sons, he may not treat the son of the wife whom he loves as the first-born, at the expense of the son of the wife whom he does not love, the true first-born.

16. then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the first-born in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the first-born,

17. As his first-born he must acknowledge the son of the wife whom he does not love, giving him a double share of his estate; this son being the first-fruit of his vigour, the right of the first-born is his.

17. but he shall acknowledge the first-born, the son of the disliked, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the first issue of his strength; the right of the first-born is his.

18. 'If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not listen to the voice either of his father or of his mother and, even when they punish him, still will not pay attention to them,

18. "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, though they chastise him, will not give heed to them,

19. his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place.

19. then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives,

20. To the elders of his town, they will say, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and will not listen to us; he is a wastrel and a drunkard."

20. and they shall say to the elders of his city, `This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.'

21. All his fellow-citizens must then stone him to death. You must banish this evil from among you. All Israel, hearing of this, will be afraid.

21. Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

22. 'If a man guilty of a capital offence is to be put to death, and you hang him from a tree,

22. "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

23. his body must not remain on the tree overnight; you must bury him the same day, since anyone hanged is a curse of God, and you must not bring pollution on the soil which Yahweh your God is giving you as your heritage.'

23. his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; you shall not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.