Deuteronomy 21 Parallel Bible Translations

Deuteronomy 21 ▼
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1 “When there will have been found in the land, which the Lord your God will give to you, the corpse of a man who has been killed, and it is not known who is guilty of the murder, “If in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, If 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,
2 your judges and those greater by birth shall go out and measure, from the place of the corpse, the distance to each of the surrounding cities. then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns.
3 And in whichever one they perceive to be closer than the others, the elders shall take a calf from the herd, one which has not pulled with a yoke, nor tilled with a plow. And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke. Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke
4 And they shall lead it into a rough and stony valley, one which has never been tilled or sown. And in that place, they shall cut the neck of the calf. And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. and 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.
5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall approach, those whom the Lord your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and to decide every controversy by their word, and to judge which things are clean and which are unclean. Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. The 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.
6 And those greater by birth of that city, nearest to the one who was slain, shall go and shall wash their hands over the calf that was killed in the valley. And 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, Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,
7 And they shall say: ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done.
8 Be merciful to your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, and do not charge them with innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.’ And so the guilt of the blood will be taken away from them. Accept atonement, O LORD, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ Accept 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,
9 Then you will be free from the blood that was shed against the innocent, when you will have done as the Lord has instructed you. So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. and 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 If you have gone out to fight against your enemies, and the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand, and if, as you are leading away the captives, “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives,
11 you see among the number of the captives a beautiful woman, and you love her, and you are willing to have her as a wife: and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife.
12 then you shall lead her into your house. And she shall shave off her hair, and cut her nails short, and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails
13 and remove the garment in which she was captured. And she shall sit in your house and weep for her father and mother, for one month. And after that, you shall enter to her and sleep with her, and she shall be your wife. And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament 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. and 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.
14 But if afterwards she does not sit well in your mind, you shall set her free. You cannot sell her for money, nor can you oppress her by force. For you have humiliated her. But if you no longer delight in her, you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her. If 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 beloved and the other hated, and they have produced children by him, and if the son of the hated wife is the firstborn, “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, If 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,
16 and if he wishes to divide his substance among his sons: he cannot make the son of the beloved wife the firstborn, and so prefer him before the son of the hated wife. then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, when 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.
17 Instead, he shall acknowledge the son of the hated wife as the firstborn, and he shall give to him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the first among his children, and the rights of the firstborn are owed to him. 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 firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his. He 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 produces a disobedient and reckless son, who will not listen to the orders of his father or mother, and, having been corrected, shows contempt for obedience: “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, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, If 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,
19 they shall take him and lead him to the elders of the city and to the gate of judgment. then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town.
20 And they shall say to them: ‘This our son is reckless and disobedient. He shows contempt when listening to our admonitions. He occupies himself with carousing, and self-indulgence, and feasting.’ and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ They 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.”
21 Then the people of the city shall stone him to death. And he shall die, so that you may take away the evil from your midst. And so may all of Israel, upon hearing it, be very afraid. Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear. Then 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 When a man will have sinned in a matter which is punished by death, and, having been judged unto death, he has been hanged on a gallows: “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole,
23 his corpse shall not remain on the tree. Instead, he shall be buried on the same day. For he who hangs from a tree has been cursed by God, and you shall not defile your land, which the Lord your God will give to you as a possession.” his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance. you 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.
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