1 “If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the Loʀᴅ your God gives you to 1Lit possess itpossess, and it is not known who has struck him, 2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. 3  “It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; 4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 5  “Then ADeut 17:9-11; 19:17; 1 Chr 23:13the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Loʀᴅ your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Loʀᴅ; and every dispute and every 1Lit strokeassault 2Lit shall be according to their mouthshall be settled by them. 6  “All the elders of that city 1Lit who arewhich is nearest to the slain man shall AMatt 27:24wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; 7 and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. 8  ‘1Lit Cover over, atone forForgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Loʀᴅ, and do not place the guilt of ANum 35:33, 34; Jon 1:14innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the bloodguiltiness shall be 2Lit covered over, atoned forforgiven them. 9  “ADeut 19:13So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Loʀᴅ.

10 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and AJosh 21:44the Loʀᴅ your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive, 11 and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall ALev 14:8, 9; Num 6:9shave her head and 1Lit dotrim her nails. 13  “She shall also 1Lit remove from herremove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and APs 45:10mourn her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14  “It shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go 1Lit according to her soulwherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for money, you shall not 2Or enslavemistreat her, because you have AGen 34:2humbled her.

15 “If a man has two wives, the one loved and AGen 29:33the other 1Lit hatedunloved, and both the loved and the 1Lit hatedunloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the 1Lit hatedunloved, 16 then it shall be in the day he 1Lit makes to inheritwills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the 2Lit hatedunloved, who is the firstborn. 17  “But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the 1Lit hatedunloved, by giving him a double portion of all that 2Lit is found with himhe has, for he is the AGen 49:3beginning of his strength; BGen 25:31to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

18 “If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will AEx 20:12; Lev 19:3; Prov 1:8; Eph 6:1-3not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, 19 then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city 1Lit and to the gate of his placeat the gateway of his hometown. 20  “They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21  “ALev 20:2, 27; 24:14-23; Num 15:25, 36Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so BDeut 19:19you shall remove the evil from your midst, and CDeut 13:11all Israel will hear of it and fear.

22 “If a man has committed a sin ADeut 22:26; Matt 26:66; Mark 14:64; Acts 23:29worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 AJosh 8:29; 10:26, 27; John 19:31his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for BGal 3:13he who is hanged is 1Lit the curse of Godaccursed of God), so that you CLev 18:25; Num 35:34do not defile your land which the Loʀᴅ your God gives you as an inheritance.