7
Then they must make this formal statement: "We didn't commit this murder, and we didn't witness it.
8
LORD, make peace with your people Israel, whom you freed. Don't let the guilt of this unsolved murder remain among your people Israel." Then there will be peace with the LORD despite the murder.
9
This is how you will get rid of the guilt of an unsolved murder by doing what the LORD considers right.
10
When you go to war with your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you, you may take them captive.
11
If you see a beautiful woman among the captives and have your heart set on her, you may marry her.
12
Bring her into your home. She must shave her head, cut her nails,
13
and no longer wear the clothes she was wearing when you captured her. Then she may live in your house and mourn [the loss of] her father and mother for one month. After that, you may sleep with her. Then you will become husband and wife.
14
But if it happens that you are no longer pleased with her, let her go wherever she wants. You must never sell her or mistreat her as if she were a slave, since you've already had sex with her.
15
A man might have two wives and love one but not the other. Both wives might have children, and the firstborn son might belong to the wife that the man doesn't love.
16
When the day comes for the father to give his sons their inheritance, he can't treat the son of the wife he loves as if that son were the firstborn. This would show a total disregard for the real firstborn (the son of the wife he doesn't love).
17
Instead, he must recognize the son of the wife he doesn't love as the firstborn. He must give that son a double portion of whatever he owns. That son is the very first son he had. The rights of the firstborn son are his.