| Berean Study Bible | NET Bible |
| 1If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, | 1If a homicide victim should be found lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you, and no one knows who killed him, |
| 2your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities. | 2your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. |
| 3Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work, | 3Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked--that has never pulled with the yoke-- |
| 4bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream. | 4and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. There at the wadi they are to break the heifer's neck. |
| 5And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault. | 5Then the Levitical priests will approach (for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, and to decide every judicial verdict) |
| 6Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken, | 6and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. |
| 7and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. | 7Then they must proclaim, "Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we witnessed the crime. |
| 8Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for. | 8Do not blame your people Israel whom you redeemed, O LORD, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person." Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. |
| 9So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD. | 9In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before the LORD. |
| 10When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive, | 10When you go out to do battle with your enemies and the LORD your God allows you to prevail and you take prisoners, |
| 11if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife, | 11if you should see among them an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife, |
| 12then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, | 12you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, |
| 13and put aside the clothing of her captivity. After she has lived in your house a full month and mourned her father and mother, you may have relations with her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. | 13discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, and stay in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations with her and become her husband and she your wife. |
| 14And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her. | 14If you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go where she pleases. You cannot in any case sell her; you must not take advantage of her, since you have already humiliated her. |
| 15If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son, | 15Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, and they both bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife. |
| 16when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife. | 16In the day he divides his inheritance he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other wife's son who is actually the firstborn. |
| 17Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his father’s strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him. | 17Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved wife as firstborn and give him the double portion of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father's procreative power--to him should go the right of the firstborn. |
| 18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined, | 18If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, |
| 19his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown, | 19his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. |
| 20and say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” | 20They must declare to the elders of his city, "Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say--he is a glutton and drunkard." |
| 21Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid. | 21Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out wickedness from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid. |
| 22If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, | 22If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse on a tree, |
| 23you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. | 23his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury him that same day, for the one who is left exposed on a tree is cursed by God. You must not defile your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. |
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