English Standard Version

Darby Bible Translation

Atonement for Unsolved Murders

“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,

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The Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

If one be found slain in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess, lying in the field, [and] it be not known who hath smitten him,

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then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities.

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then thine elders and thy judges shall go forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain;

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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.

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and the city that is nearest unto him that is slain, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer that hath not been wrought with, that hath not drawn in the yoke;

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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.

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and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto an ever-flowing watercourse, which is not tilled, nor is it sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the watercourse;

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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.

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and the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them Jehovah thy God hath chosen to do service unto him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah; and according to their word shall be every controversy and every stroke.

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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,

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And all the elders of that city, that are nearest unto him that is slain, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck is broken in the watercourse,

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and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed.

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and shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

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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.’

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Forgive thy people Israel, whom thou, Jehovah, hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood to the charge of thy people Israel; and the blood shall be expiated for them.

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So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

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So shalt thou put away innocent blood from thy midst, when thou shalt do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah.

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Marrying Female Captives

“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive,

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Marrying a Captive Woman

When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and Jehovah thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou hast taken captives of them,

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and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife,

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and thou seest among the captives a woman of beautiful form, and hast a desire unto her, and takest her as thy wife;

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and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails.

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then thou shalt bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;

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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.

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and she shall put the clothes of her captivity from off her, and shall abide in thy house, and bewail her father and mother a full month, and afterwards thou mayest go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.

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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.

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And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go according to her desire; but thou shalt in no wise sell her for money; thou shalt not treat her as a slave, because thou hast humbled her.

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Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn

“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,a

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Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn

If a man have two wives, one beloved, and one hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and the firstborn son be hers that was hated;

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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,

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then it shall be, in the day that he maketh his sons to inherit what he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn;

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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.

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but he shall acknowledge as firstborn the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that is found with him; for he is the firstfruits of his vigour: the right of the firstborn is his.

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A Rebellious Son

“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,

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A Rebellious Son

If a man have an unmanageable and rebellious son, who hearkeneth not unto the voice of his father, nor unto the voice of his mother, and they have chastened him, but he hearkeneth not unto them;

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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,

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then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;

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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.’

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and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is unmanageable and rebellious, he hearkeneth not unto our voice; he is a profligate and a drunkard.

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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.

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And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die. And thou shalt put evil away from thy midst; and all Israel shall hear and fear.

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A Man Hanged on a Tree Is Cursed

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

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Cursed is Anyone Hung on a Tree

And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou have hanged him on a tree,

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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.

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his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day (for he that is hanged is a curse of God); and thou shalt not defile thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Parallel

English Standard Version

Darby Bible Translation

Deuteronomy 21

Deuteronomy 21