| New King James Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 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, | 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 from the slain man to the surrounding cities. | 2your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby 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. | 3The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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, 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 7Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. | 7They will declare, 'Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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 war against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them 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 you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your wife, | 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, |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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, 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, | 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, 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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 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, | 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 his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. | 19his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown. |
| 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.’ | 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.' |
| 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 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 deserving 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 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. | 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." |
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