| New International Version | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 1If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was, | 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, |
| 2your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. | 2then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. |
| 3Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke | 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; |
| 4and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer's neck. | 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. |
| 5The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the LORD and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. | 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. |
| 6Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, | 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; |
| 7and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. | 7and they shall answer and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. |
| 8Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person." Then the bloodshed will be atoned for, | 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. |
| 9and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD. | 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. |
| 10When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, | 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, |
| 11if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. | 11and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, |
| 12Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails | 12then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. |
| 13and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. | 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. |
| 14If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her. | 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. |
| 15If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, | 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, |
| 16when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. | 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. |
| 17He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him. | 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. |
| 18If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, | 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, |
| 19his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. | 19then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. |
| 20They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard." | 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.' |
| 21Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid. | 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. |
| 22If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, | 22"If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, |
| 23you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. | 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. |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | 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 |
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