| New King James Version | English Standard Version |
| 1“If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, | 1“If in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, |
| 2then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities. | 2then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. |
| 3And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer which has not been worked and which has not pulled with a yoke. | 3And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke. |
| 4The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. | 4And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. |
| 5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; by their word every controversy and every assault shall be settled. | 5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. |
| 6And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. | 6And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, |
| 7Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. | 7and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. |
| 8Provide atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood. | 8Accept atonement, O LORD, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ |
| 9So you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. | 9So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. |
| 10“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, | 10“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, |
| 11and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your wife, | 11and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, |
| 12then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. | 12and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. |
| 13She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and mourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. | 13And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. |
| 14And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have humbled her. | 14But if you no longer delight in her, you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her. |
| 15“If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son is of her who is unloved, | 15“If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, |
| 16then it shall be, on the day he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true firstborn. | 16then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, |
| 17But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his. | 17but 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 firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his. |
| 18“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, | 18“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, |
| 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. | 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, |
| 20And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ | 20and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ |
| 21Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear. | 21Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear. |
| 22“If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, | 22“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, |
| 23his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. | 23his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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