| New King James Version | New International Version |
| 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 someone 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 the killer was, |
| 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 shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. |
| 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. | 3Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke |
| 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. | 4and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer's neck. |
| 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. | 5The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the LORD and to decide all cases of dispute and 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. | 6Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, |
| 7Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. | 7and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. |
| 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. | 8Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person." Then the bloodshed will be atoned for, |
| 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. | 9and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD. |
| 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 delivers them into your hands and you take captives, |
| 11and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your wife, | 11if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. |
| 12then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. | 12Bring her into your home and have her 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. | 13and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall 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. | 14If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored 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, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, |
| 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 he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. |
| 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 son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him. |
| 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 someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when 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 shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. |
| 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 shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is 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 town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it 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 someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, |
| 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 must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
|
