| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1“When you are in the land the LORD your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don’t know who committed the murder. | 1If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, |
| 2In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns. | 2your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities. |
| 3When the nearest town has been determined, that town’s elders must select from the herd a heifer that has never been trained or yoked to a plow. | 3Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work, |
| 4They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the heifer’s neck. | 4bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream. |
| 5Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the LORD’s name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases. | 5And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault. |
| 6“The elders of the town must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken. | 6Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken, |
| 7Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person’s blood, nor did we see it happen. | 7and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. |
| 8O LORD, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.’ Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person’s blood. | 8Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for. |
| 9By following these instructions, you will do what is right in the LORD’s sight and will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community. Marriage to a Captive Woman | 9So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD. |
| 10“Suppose you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you, and you take some of them as captives. | 10When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive, |
| 11And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her. | 11if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife, |
| 12If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails, | 12then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, |
| 13and change the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. She will stay in your home, but let her mourn for her father and mother for a full month. Then you may marry her, and you will be her husband and she will be your wife. | 13and put aside the clothing of her captivity. After she has lived in your house a full month and mourned her father and mother, you may have relations with her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. |
| 14But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her. Rights of the Firstborn | 14And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her. |
| 15“Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love. | 15If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son, |
| 16When the man divides his inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves, as if he were the firstborn son. | 16when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife. |
| 17He must recognize the rights of his oldest son, the son of the wife he does not love, by giving him a double portion. He is the first son of his father’s virility, and the rights of the firstborn belong to him. Dealing with a Rebellious Son | 17Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his father’s strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him. |
| 18“Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. | 18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined, |
| 19In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. | 19his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown, |
| 20The parents must say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ | 20and say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” |
| 21Then all the men of his town must stone him to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid. Various Regulations | 21Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid. |
| 22“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree, | 22If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, |
| 23the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession. | 23you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. |
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