| New International Version | NET Bible |
| 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, | 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 shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. | 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 town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn 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 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 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. |
| 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. | 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 town nearest the body shall 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 shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. | 7Then they must proclaim, "Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we witnessed the crime. |
| 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, | 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. |
| 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. | 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 hands and you take captives, | 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 notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, 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 into your home and have her 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 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. | 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 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. | 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, 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, | 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 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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 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, | 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 shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. | 19his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. |
| 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." | 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 town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it 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 someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, | 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 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 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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