CHAPTER 21
If
one is found
slain,
lying
in a field
in the land
the LORD
your God
is giving
you
to possess,
and it is not
known
who
killed him,
your elders
and judges
must come out
and measure the distance
from the victim
to
the neighboring
cities.
Then
the elders
of the city
nearest
the victim
shall take
a heifer
that
has never
been yoked
or used for work,
bring
the heifer
to
a valley
with running water
that
has not
been plowed
or sown,
and break its
neck
there
by the stream.
And 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.
Then all
the elders
of the city
nearest
the victim
shall wash
their hands
by the stream
over
the heifer
whose neck has been broken,
Accept 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.
So 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.
When
you go
to war
against
your enemies
and the LORD
your God
delivers them
into your hands
and you take
them captive,
and put aside
the clothes
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.
And
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.
If
a man
has
two
wives,
one
beloved
and the other
unloved,
and both
bear
him sons,
but the unloved
wife has
the firstborn
son,
when
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.
Instead,
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.
If
a man
has
a stubborn
and rebellious
son
who does not
obey
his father
and mother,
or
listen
to them
when disciplined,
his father
and mother
are to lay hold
of him
and bring
him to
the elders
of his city,
to
the gate
of his hometown,
and say
to
the elders,
“This
son of ours
is stubborn
and rebellious;
he does not
obey us.
He is a glutton
and a drunkard.”
Then all
the men
of his city
will stone
him to death.
You must purge
the evil
from among you,
and all
Israel
will hear
and be afraid.
If
a man
has committed
a sin
worthy
of death,
and he is executed,
and you hang
his body
on
a tree,
you 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
the LORD
your God
is giving
you
as an inheritance.