21:1 “If a person who has been killed by someone is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to ①possess, and it is not known who struck him,
▷ ①Lit possess it
21:2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the one who was killed.
21:3 And it shall be that the city which is nearest to the person killed, that is, that the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked ①and has not pulled in a yoke;
▷ ①Lit which has not
21:4 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 they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.
21:5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, because the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and ①violent crime shall be ②settled by them.
▷ ①Lit blow ②Lit according to their mouth
21:6 And all the elders of that city ①which is nearest to the person killed shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;
▷ ①Lit who are
21:7 and they shall respond and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see who did.
21:8 ①Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, LORD, and do not place the guilt for innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the guilt for bloodshed shall be ②forgiven them.
▷ ①Lit Cover over, atone for ②Lit covered over, atoned for
21:9 So you shall remove the guilt for innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
21:10 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God hands them over to you and you take them away captive,
21:11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and are strongly attracted to her and would take her as a wife for yourself,
21:12 then you shall bring her into your home, and she shall shave her head and ①trim her nails.
▷ ①Lit do
21:13 She shall also ①remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and weep for her father and mother a full month; and after that you may have relations with her and become her husband and she shall be your wife.
▷ ①Lit remove from her
21:14 But it shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go ①wherever she wishes; and you certainly shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as merchandise, since you have ②humiliated her.
▷ ①Lit according to her soul ②I.e., by a forced marriage
21:15 “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other ①unloved, and both the loved and the ②unloved have borne him sons, and the firstborn son belongs to the ③unloved,
▷ ①Or scorned; lit hated ②Or scorned; lit hated ③Or scorned; lit hated
21:16 then it shall be on the day that he wills what he owns as an inheritance to his sons, he is not allowed to treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, ①at the expense of the son of the ②unloved, who actually is the firstborn son.
▷ ①Lit against the face of ②See note v 15
21:17 On the contrary, he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the ①unloved wife, by giving him a double ②portion of everything that ③he owns, for he was the beginning of his ④strength; to him belongs the right of the firstborn.
▷ ①See note v 15 ②Lit mouthful ③Lit is found with him ④I.e., power of procreation
21:18 “If any person has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or his mother, and when they discipline him, he does not listen to them,
21:19 then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city ①at the gateway of his hometown.
▷ ①Lit and to the gate of his place
21:20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us, he is thoughtless and given to drinking.’
21:21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall eliminate the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear about it and fear.
21:22 “Now if ①a person has committed a sin carrying a sentence of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on ②a tree,
▷ ①Lit a sin is in a person carrying ②Lit wood
21:23 his body is not to be left overnight on the ①tree, but you shall certainly bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is cursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
▷ ①Lit wood