Deuteronomy 21:1-6 ▼

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,

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 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 |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;