New King James Version

King James Bible

The Law Concerning Unsolved Murder

“If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess, 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 the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him:

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then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities.

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Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:

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And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer which has not been worked and which has not pulled with a yoke.

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And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke;

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The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they 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 a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley:

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Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; by their word every controversy and every [a]assault shall be settled.

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And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:

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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 next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:

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Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.

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

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Provide atonement, O Lord, for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood.

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Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them.

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So you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

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So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

10

Female Captives

“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers 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 the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,

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and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your wife,

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And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;

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

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

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She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and mourn 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 raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.

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And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have humbled her.

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And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

15

Firstborn Inheritance Rights

“If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son is of her who is unloved,

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Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn

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

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then it shall be, on the day he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true firstborn.

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Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:

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But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

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But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

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The 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 who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them,

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A Rebellious Son

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken 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, to the gate of his city.

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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 son of ours 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 stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

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Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, 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: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

22

Miscellaneous Laws

“If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

22

Cursed is Anyone Hung on a Tree

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

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his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.

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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 accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Parallel

New King James Version

King James Bible

Deuteronomy 21

Deuteronomy 21