Deuteronomy 21

Atonement for an Unsolved Murderⓘ

Atonement for an unsolved murder¹If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the Lord your God is giving 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 neighboring cities.

³Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work, ⁴bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.

⁵And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault. ⁶Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken, ⁷and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. ⁸Accept this atonement, O Lord, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.”

And the bloodshed will be atoned for. ⁹So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Marrying a Captive Womanⓘ

Marrying a captive woman¹⁰When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive, ¹¹if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife, ¹²then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, ¹³and put aside the clothing of her captivity.

After she has lived in your house a full month and mourned her father and mother, you may have relations with her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

Inheritance Rights of the Firstbornⓘ

The firstborn's rights¹⁵If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son, ¹⁶when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife.

¹⁷Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his fatherʼs strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.

A Rebellious Sonⓘ

A rebellious son¹⁸If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined, ¹⁹his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown, ²⁰and say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”

²¹Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you,^a and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

Cursed Is Anyone Hung on a Treeⓘ

Burial of a hanged body²²✦If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,^{b 23}✦you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under Godʼs curse.^c You must not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.