| New Living Translation | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 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. | 1"If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him, |
| 2In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns. | 2then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. |
| 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. | 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; |
| 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. | 4and 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. |
| 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. | 5"Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. |
| 6“The elders of the town must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken. | 6"All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; |
| 7Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person’s blood, nor did we see it happen. | 7and they shall answer and say, '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. | 8'Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.' And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. |
| 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 | 9"So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do 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. | 10"When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive, |
| 11And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her. | 11and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, |
| 12If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails, | 12then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and 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. | 13"She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and mourn 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. |
| 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 | 14"It shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for money, you shall not mistreat her, because you have humbled 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. | 15"If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, |
| 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. | 16then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn. |
| 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 | 17"But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the firstborn. |
| 18“Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. | 18"If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, |
| 19In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. | 19then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway 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.’ | 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.' |
| 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 | 21"Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear. |
| 22“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree, | 22"If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him 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. | 23his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance. |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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