Deuteronomy 21
21
A Person Found Murdered
1Someone might be found murdered. He might be lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to own. And no one knows who killed him. 2Your elders and judges should go to where he was found. And they should measure how far it is to the nearby cities. 3The elders of the city nearest the body are responsible. They must take a young cow that has never worked or worn a yoke. 4And they must lead her down to a valley. It must never have been plowed or planted. It must have a stream flowing through it. There they must break the young cow’s neck. 5The priests should come forward. They are the sons of Levi. They have been chosen by the Lord your God. They are to serve and give blessings in the Lord’s name. And they are to decide cases of quarreling and attacks. 6Then all the elders of the city nearest the murdered man should wash their hands. They should do it over the young cow whose neck was broken in the valley. 7They should declare: “We did not kill this man. And we did not see it happen. 8Lord, remove this sin of your people Israel. You have saved them. Don’t blame your people, the Israelites, for this innocent man’s murder.” And so the murder will be paid for. 9Then you will have removed from yourselves the guilt of murdering an innocent person. You will be doing what the Lord says is right.
Captive Women as Wives
10You will go to war against your enemies. The Lord will help you defeat them. You will take them captive. 11You might see a beautiful woman among the captives. And you might be attracted to her. You may take her as your wife. 12Bring her into your home. She must shave her head and cut her nails. 13She must change out of the clothes she was wearing when you captured her. And she must live in your house and cry for her parents for a month. After that, you may marry her. You will be her husband, and she will be your wife. 14But you might not be pleased with her. Then let her go anywhere she wants. You must not sell her for money. You must not make her a slave. You have taken away her honor.
The Oldest Son
15A man may have two wives. He might love one wife but not the other. Both wives might have sons by him. But the older son might be the son of the wife he does not love. 16Someday that man must will his property to his sons. But he must not give the son of the wife he loves what belongs to the older son. The older son is the son of the wife the man does not love. 17He must agree to give the older son two shares of everything he owns. The older son is from the wife he does not love. That son was the first to prove his father could have children. So he has the rights that belong to the older son.
Sons Who Refuse to Obey
18A man might have a son who is stubborn. The son turns against his father and mother and doesn’t obey them. He will not listen when they correct him. 19His parents must take him to the elders at the city gate. 20They will say to the leaders, “Our son is stubborn and turns against us. He will not obey us. He eats too much. And he is always drunk.” 21Then all the men in his town must throw stones at him until he dies. Get rid of the evil among you. All the people of Israel will hear about this and be afraid.
Other Laws
22A man might be guilty of a sin worthy of death. He must be put to death and his body displayed on a tree. 23But don’t leave his body hanging on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day. Anyone whose body is displayed on a tree is cursed by God. You must not ruin the land the Lord your God is giving you to own.
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Deḇarim (Deuteronomy) 21
21
1“When anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you to possess, and it is not known who struck him,
2then your elders and your judges shall go out, and they shall measure the distance from the slain man to the cities round about.
3“And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer which has not been worked and which has not pulled with a yoke,
4and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, which is neither ploughed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi.
5“And the priests, the sons of Lĕwi, shall come near, for יהוה your Elohim has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the Name of יהוה, and by their mouth every strife and every stroke is tried.
6“And let all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi.
7“And they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.
8O יהוה, forgive Your people Yisra’ĕl, whom You have ransomed, and do not allow innocent blood in the midst of Your people Yisra’ĕl.’ And the blood-guilt shall be pardoned to them.
9“Thus you purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst when you do what is right in the eyes of יהוה.
10When you go out to fight against your enemies, and יהוה your Elohim shall give them into your hand, and you shall take them captive,”
11and shall see among the captives a woman fair of form, and shall delight in her and take her for your wife,
12then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails,
13and put aside the mantle of her captivity, and shall dwell in your house, and mourn her father and her mother a month of days. And after that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.
14“And it shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go at her desire, but you do not sell her at all for silver. Do not treat her harshly, since you have humbled her.
15When a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and the first-born son is of her who is unloved,”
16then it shall be, on the day he makes his sons to inherit his possessions, he is not allowed to treat the son of the beloved wife as first-born in the face of the son of the unloved, who is truly the first-born.
17“But he is to acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the first-born by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength – the right of the first-born is his.
18When a man has a wayward and rebellious son who is not listening to the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have disciplined him, does not listen to them,”
19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city,
20and shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is wayward and rebellious. He is not listening to our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’
21“Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst. And let all Yisra’ĕl hear, and fear.
22“And when a man has committed a sin worthy of death, then he shall be put to death and you shall hang him on a tree.
23“Let his body not remain overnight on the tree, for you shall certainly bury him the same day – for he who is hanged is accursed of Elohim – so that you do not defile the land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance.
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