Deuteronomy 21

Revised Geneva Translation

21 “If one is found killed in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, lying in the field (it is not known who has killed him),

² “then your elders and your judges shall come forth and measure to the cities that are around him who is killed.

³ “And let the elders of that city which is next to the killed man take a heifer that has not been put to labor or drawn the yoke.

⁴ “And let the elders of that city bring the heifer to a stony valley, which is neither plowed nor sown, and break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

⁵ “Also the priests, the sons of Levi (whom the LORD your God has chosen to minister, and to bless in the Name of the LORD) shall come forth. And by their word shall all strife and plague be settled.

⁶ “And all the elders of that city that came near the killed man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.

⁷ “And they shall testify, and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.

⁸ ‘O LORD, be merciful to Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed. And lay no innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And the blood shall be forgiven them.

⁹ “So shall you take away the cry of innocent blood from you when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁰ “When you shall go to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God shall deliver them into your hands, and you shall take them captives,

¹¹ “and shall see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her, and would take her for your wife,

¹² “then you shall bring her home to your house. And she shall shave her head and trim her nails.

¹³ “And she shall change the garment that she was taken in. And she shall remain in your house and mourn her father and her mother for a month. And after that, you shall go in to her, and marry her. And she shall be your wife.

¹⁴ “And if you do not favor her, then you may let her go where she will. But you shall not sell her for money or make merchandise of her, because you have humbled her.

¹⁵ “If a man has two wives—one loved and another hated—and they have born him children (both the loved and also the hated), if the firstborn is the son of the hated,

¹⁶ “then, when the time comes that he appoints his sons to be heirs of that which he has, he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn.

¹⁷ “But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated as the firstborn and give him double portion from all that he has. For he is the first of his strength, and to him belongs the right of firstborn.

¹⁸ “If any man has a son that is stubborn and disobedient, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother. And they have chastened him. And he would not obey them.

¹⁹ “Then his father and his mother shall take him and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of the place where he dwells,

²⁰ “and shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and disobedient. He will not obey our admonition. He is a rioter and a drunkard.’

²¹ “Then all the men of his city shall stone him with stones until death. So you shall take away evil from among you, so that all Israel may hear it and fear.

²² “If a man also has committed a trespass worthy of death, and is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

²³ “his body shall not remain upon the tree all night. But you shall bury him the same day. For the curse of God is on him who is hanged. Therefore, do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit.”