| New American Standard Bible 1995 | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1"If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him, | 1If a murder victim is found lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, |
| 2then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. | 2your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby cities. |
| 3"It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; | 3The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work. |
| 4and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. | 4The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream. |
| 5"Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. | 5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault. |
| 6"All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; | 6All the elders of the city nearest to the victim will wash their hands by the stream over the young cow whose neck has been broken. |
| 7and they shall answer and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. | 7They will declare, 'Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it. |
| 8'Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.' And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. | 8 LORD, forgive Your people Israel You redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.' Then they will be absolved of responsibility for bloodshed. |
| 9"So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD. | 9You must purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, for you will be doing what is right in the LORD's sight." |
| 10"When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive, | 10When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you and you take some of them prisoner, and |
| 11and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, | 11if you see a beautiful woman among the captives, desire her, and want to take her as your wife, |
| 12then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. | 12you are to bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, |
| 13"She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and mourn her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. | 13remove the clothes she was wearing when she was taken prisoner, live in your house, and mourn for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife. |
| 14"It shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for money, you shall not mistreat her, because you have humbled her. | 14Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go where she wants, but you must not sell her for money or treat her as merchandise, because you have humiliated her." |
| 15"If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, | 15If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons, and if the unloved wife has the firstborn son, |
| 16then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn. | 16when that man gives what he has to his sons as an inheritance, he is not to show favoritism to the son of the loved wife as his firstborn over the firstborn of the unloved wife. |
| 17"But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the firstborn. | 17He must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved wife, by giving him two shares of his estate, for he is the firstfruits of his virility; he has the rights of the firstborn." |
| 18"If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, | 18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn't listen to them even after they discipline him, |
| 19then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. | 19his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown. |
| 20"They shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.' | 20They will say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn't obey us. He's a glutton and a drunkard.' |
| 21"Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear. | 21Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid." |
| 22"If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, | 22If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, |
| 23his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance. | 23you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not defile the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance." |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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