5.Mose 21 | New International Reader’s Version

What to do when you don’t know who killed someone

1 Suppose you find someone who has been killed. The body is lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you as your own. But no one knows who the killer was. 2 Then your elders and judges will go out to the field. They will measure the distance from the body to the nearby towns. 3 The elders from the town that is nearest to the body will get a young cow. It must never have been used for work. It must never have pulled a load. 4 The elders must lead it down into a valley. The valley must not have been farmed. There must be a stream flowing through it. There in the valley the elders must break the cow’s neck. 5 The priests, who are sons of Levi, will step forward. The LORD your God has chosen them to serve him. He wants them to bless the people in his name. He wants them to decide all cases that have to do with people arguing and attacking others. 6 Then all the elders from the town that is nearest to the body will wash their hands. They will wash them over the young cow whose neck they broke in the valley. 7 They’ll say to the LORD, ‘We didn’t kill that person. We didn’t see it happen. 8 Accept this payment for the sin of your people Israel. LORD, you have set your people free. Don’t hold them guilty for spilling the blood of someone who hasn’t done anything wrong.’ That will pay for the death of that person. 9 So you will get rid of the guilt of killing someone who didn’t do anything wrong. That’s because you have done what is right in the LORD’s eyes.

Marrying a woman who is your prisoner

10 Suppose you go to war against your enemies. And the LORD your God hands them over to you and you take them as prisoners. 11 Then you notice a beautiful woman among them. If you like her, you may marry her. 12 Bring her home. Have her shave her head and cut her nails. 13 Have her throw away the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. Let her live in your house and mourn the loss of her parents for a full month. Then you can go to her and be her husband. And she will be your wife. 14 But suppose you aren’t pleased with her. Then let her go where she wants to. You must not sell her. You must not treat her as a slave. You have already brought shame on her.

The rights of the eldest son

15 Suppose a man has two wives. He loves one but not the other. And both of them have sons by him. But the eldest son is the son of the wife the man doesn’t love. 16 Someday he’ll leave his property to his sons. When he does, he must not give the rights of the eldest son to the son of the wife he loves. He must give those rights to his eldest son. He must do it even though his eldest son is the son of the wife he doesn’t love. 17 He must recognise the full rights of the eldest son. He must do it, even though that son is the son of the wife he doesn’t love. He must give that son a double share of everything he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. So the rights of the eldest son belong to him.

A stubborn son

18 Suppose someone has a very stubborn son. He doesn’t obey his father and mother. And he won’t listen to them when they try to correct him. 19 Then his parents will take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They will say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is very stubborn. He won’t obey us. He eats too much. He’s always getting drunk.’ 21 Then all the people in his town will put him to death by throwing stones at him. Get rid of that evil person. All the Israelites will hear about it. And they will be afraid to disobey their parents.

Several other laws

22 Suppose someone is put to death for a crime worthy of death. And a pole is stuck through their body and set up where people can see it. 23 Then you must not leave the body on the pole all night. Make sure you bury it that same day. Everyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not make the land ‘unclean’. The LORD your God is giving it to you as your own.

English Standard Version

Atonement for Unsolved Murders

1 “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, 2 then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 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, 7 and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. 8 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.’ 9 So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

Marrying Female Captives

10 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, 12 and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. 13 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. 14 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.

Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn

15 “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,* 16 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, 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 firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.

A Rebellious Son

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, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19 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, 20 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.’ 21 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.

A Man Hanged on a Tree Is Cursed

22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 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.

5.Mose 21 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version