| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1"If a murder victim is found fallen in the open country of the land that the LORD your God is about to give 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, |
| 2then let your elders and judges go out and measure the distance from the dead body 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 body are to take a heifer that hasn't been put to work or hasn't pulled a yoke | 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-- |
| 4and are to lead the heifer to a flowing stream in a valley that has never been tilled or planted. They are to break the heifer's neck there. | 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. |
| 5Then the priests of the sons of Levi are to step forward, because the LORD your God chose them to serve and pronounce blessings in his name. Every case of dispute and assault is to be subject to their ruling. | 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) |
| 6All the elders of the city nearest the dead body are to wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, | 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 are to make this declaration: 'Our hands didn't shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to the crime. | 7Then they must proclaim, "Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we witnessed the crime. |
| 8Make atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, LORD, and don't charge the blood of an innocent man against them.' Then the blood shed 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. |
| 9This is how you will remove the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right in the sight 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. |
| 10"If you go to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your control, you may take some prisoners 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 among the prisoners a beautiful woman and you desire her, then you may take her as your wife. | 11if you should see among them an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife, |
| 12Bring her to your house, but shave her head and trim her nails. | 12you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, |
| 13Remove her prisoner's clothing and let her remain for a month in your house, mourning her parents. After that, you may become her husband and she is to become 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. |
| 14If you aren't pleased with her and you send her away, you must not sell her for money or mistreat her, since you will 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. |
| 15"If a man has two wives where one is loved but the other is unloved, and both of them bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife, | 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. |
| 16then when he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, he must not give preference to the firstborn of the beloved wife over the firstborn 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 of the unloved wife by giving him double of everything he owns, because he is really the first fruit 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. |
| 18"If a man has a stubborn son who does not obey his parents, and although they try to discipline him, he still refuses to pay attention to them, | 18If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, |
| 19then his parents are to seize him and bring him before the elders at the gate of his city. | 19his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. |
| 20Then they are to declare to the elders of their city: 'Our son is stubborn and rebellious. He does not obey us. He lives wildly and is 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 are to stone him with stones so that he dies. This is how you will remove this evil from among you. Then all Israel will hear of it and will 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. |
| 22"If a man is guilty of a capital offense, is executed, and then is impaled on a tree, | 22If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse on a tree, |
| 23his body must not remain overnight on the tree. You must bury him that same day, because cursed of God is the one who has been hanged on a tree. Don't defile your land that the LORD is about to give you as your 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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