Deuteronomy 21:1-9
Laws Concerning Unsolved Murders
1 If a homicide victim ▼ should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, ▼▼tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
and no one knows who killed ▼▼tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”
him, 2your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ▼▼tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”
3Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse ▼▼tn Heb “slain [one].”
must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked—that has never pulled with the yoke— 4and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, ▼▼tn The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi (נַחַל, nakhal) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.
to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. ▼▼sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity—of freedom from human contamination.
There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck. 5Then the Levitical priests ▼▼tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”
will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, ▼ and to decide ▼▼tn Heb “by their mouth.”
every judicial verdict ▼▼tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”
) , 6and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse ▼▼tn Heb “slain [one].”
must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. ▼▼tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.
7Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we ▼▼tn Heb “our eyes.” This is a figure of speech known as synecdoche in which the part (the eyes) is put for the whole (the entire person).
witnessed the crime. ▼▼tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8Do not blame ▼▼tn Heb “Atone for.”
your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” ▼▼tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”
Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. 9In this manner you will purge the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before ▼▼tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).
the Lord.
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