| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1If a murder victim is found lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, | 1"If a murder victim is found fallen in the open country of the land that the LORD your God is about to give you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, |
| 2your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby cities. | 2then let your elders and judges go out and measure the distance from the dead body to the neighboring cities. |
| 3The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work. | 3Then the elders of the city nearest the body are to take a heifer that hasn't been put to work or hasn't pulled a yoke |
| 4The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream. | 4and are to lead the heifer to a flowing stream in a valley that has never been tilled or planted. They are to break the heifer's neck there. |
| 5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault. | 5Then the priests of the sons of Levi are to step forward, because the LORD your God chose them to serve and pronounce blessings in his name. Every case of dispute and assault is to be subject to their ruling. |
| 6All the elders of the city nearest to the victim will wash their hands by the stream over the young cow whose neck has been broken. | 6All the elders of the city nearest the dead body are to wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, |
| 7They will declare, 'Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it. | 7and they are to make this declaration: 'Our hands didn't shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to the crime. |
| 8 LORD, forgive Your people Israel You redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.' Then they will be absolved of responsibility for bloodshed. | 8Make atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, LORD, and don't charge the blood of an innocent man against them.' Then the blood shed will be atoned for. |
| 9You must purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, for you will be doing what is right in the LORD's sight." | 9This is how you will remove the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right in the sight of the LORD." |
| 10When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you and you take some of them prisoner, and | 10"If you go to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your control, you may take some prisoners captive. |
| 11if you see a beautiful woman among the captives, desire her, and want to take her as your wife, | 11If you see among the prisoners a beautiful woman and you desire her, then you may take her as your wife. |
| 12you are to bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, | 12Bring her to your house, but shave her head and trim her nails. |
| 13remove the clothes she was wearing when she was taken prisoner, live in your house, and mourn for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife. | 13Remove her prisoner's clothing and let her remain for a month in your house, mourning her parents. After that, you may become her husband and she is to become your wife. |
| 14Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go where she wants, but you must not sell her for money or treat her as merchandise, because you have humiliated her." | 14If you aren't pleased with her and you send her away, you must not sell her for money or mistreat her, since you will have dishonored her." |
| 15If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons, and if the unloved wife has the firstborn son, | 15"If a man has two wives where one is loved but the other is unloved, and both of them bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife, |
| 16when that man gives what he has to his sons as an inheritance, he is not to show favoritism to the son of the loved wife as his firstborn over the firstborn of the unloved wife. | 16then when he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, he must not give preference to the firstborn of the beloved wife over the firstborn of the unloved wife. |
| 17He must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved wife, by giving him two shares of his estate, for he is the firstfruits of his virility; he has the rights of the firstborn." | 17Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn of the unloved wife by giving him double of everything he owns, because he is really the first fruit of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him." |
| 18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn't listen to them even after they discipline him, | 18"If a man has a stubborn son who does not obey his parents, and although they try to discipline him, he still refuses to pay attention to them, |
| 19his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown. | 19then his parents are to seize him and bring him before the elders at the gate of his city. |
| 20They will say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn't obey us. He's a glutton and a drunkard.' | 20Then they are to declare to the elders of their city: 'Our son is stubborn and rebellious. He does not obey us. He lives wildly and is a drunkard.' |
| 21Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid." | 21Then all the men of his city are to stone him with stones so that he dies. This is how you will remove this evil from among you. Then all Israel will hear of it and will be afraid." |
| 22If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, | 22"If a man is guilty of a capital offense, is executed, and then is impaled on a tree, |
| 23you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not defile the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance." | 23his body must not remain overnight on the tree. You must bury him that same day, because cursed of God is the one who has been hanged on a tree. Don't defile your land that the LORD is about to give you as your inheritance." |
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