Deu 21 | ABEn | STEP | And if [ 2 should be found 1 a slain person ] in the earth (which the lord your God gives to you to inherit) fallen in the plain, and they do not know the one striking him;

Deuteronomy 21

CHAPTER 21 Priests and Levites as Judicial Mediators

1 And if [²should be found ¹a slain person] in the earth (which the lord your God gives to you to inherit) fallen in the plain, and they do not know the one striking him; 2 there shall come forth your council of elders, and your judges, and they shall measure out the distances of the cities round about the slain person; 3 and it shall be to the city near to the slain person, that [⁴shall take ¹the ²council of elders ³of that city] a heifer from the oxen, which has not worked, and which did not draw a yoke; 4 and [⁴shall bring ¹the ²council of elders ³of that city] the heifer into [²ravine ¹a rough] which has not been worked, nor sowed; and they shall hamstring the heifer in the ravine, 5 and [⁵shall come forward ¹the ²priests ³the ⁴Levites], for [³chose them ¹the lord ²your God] to stand beside him, and to bless over his name, and by their mouth will be every dispute and every blow decided. 6 And every one of the council of elders of that city, the ones approaching the slain person, shall wash their hands over the head of the heifer -- the one being hamstrung in the ravine. 7 And answering they shall say, Our hands did not pour out this blood, and our eyes have not seen it. 8 Let kindness come to your people Israel, whom you ransomed from the land of Egypt, O lord, that there should not be [²blood ¹innocent] to your people Israel. And [³shall be atoned for ⁴to them ¹the ²blood]. 9 And you shall lift away the [²blood ¹innocent] from you of them, if you should do the good and the pleasing thing before the lord your God. 10 And whenever you should go forth to war with your enemies, and [³should deliver them up ¹the lord ²your God] into your hands, that you shall despoil them by plunder. 11 And should you behold among the spoils a woman good to the sight, and should ponder her, and you should take her to yourself for a wife; 12 then you shall bring her inside into your house, and you shall shave her head, and trim her nails; 13 and you shall remove the garments of her captivity from her, and you shall seat her in your house, and she shall weep over her father and mother for a month of days; and after this you shall enter to her, and you shall be living together with her, and she shall be your wife. 14 And it shall be if you should not want her, you shall send her free, and for sale you shall not sell her for silver, you shall not disrespect her, for you humbled her. 15 But if there be to a man two wives, one of them being loved, and one of them being detested, and they should bear with him, both the one being loved and the one being detested, and [³is born ²son ¹the first-born] of the one being detested, 16 then it shall be in which ever day he should divide by lot to his sons of his possessions, he shall not be able to give the right of the first-born to the son of the one being loved, overlooking the son of the one being detested -- the first-born. 17 But the first-born son of the one being detested he shall recognize to give to him double from all which ever should be found by him, for this one is [²beginning ³child ¹his], and to this one [³is fitting ¹the ²rights of the first-born]. 18 And if any might have a son resisting persuasion, and an irritant, not obeying the voice of his father, and the voice of his mother, and they should correct him, and he should not listen to them; 19 then [⁴seizing ⁵him ¹his father ²and ³his mother] then shall lead him to the council of elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place. 20 And they shall say to the men of their city, Our son, this one resists persuasion, and he aggravates, not obeying our voice; he is fond of carousing drunk with wine. 21 And [⁴shall stone ⁵him ¹the ²men ³of his city] with stones, and he shall die; and thus you shall lift away the wicked from you of them; and all Israel hearing, they shall be fearful. 22 And if there be [²in ³any ¹sin] with the judgment of death upon him, and he should die, and you should hang him upon a tree, 23 [²shall not ³rest ¹his body] upon the tree, but by burial you shall entomb him on that day, for being cursed by God is every one hanging upon a tree; and in no way shall you defile the land which the lord your God gives to you by lot.