Holman Christian Standard Bible CSB
Revised Standard Version RSV
1 "If a murder victim is found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,
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"If in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, any one is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him,
2 your elders and judges must come out and measure [the distance] from the victim to the nearby cities.
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then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are around him that is slain;
3 The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a cow that has not been yoked or used for work.
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and the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer which has never been worked and which has not pulled in the yoke.
4 The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break the cow's neck there by the stream.
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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.
5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in the Lord's name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and [case of] assault.
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And 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.
6 All the elders of the city nearest to the victim will wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken.
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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;
7 They will declare, 'Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see [it].
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and they shall testify, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, neither did our eyes see it shed.
8 Lord, forgive Your people Israel You redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.' Then they will be absolved of responsibility for bloodshed.
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Forgive, O LORD, thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and set not the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel; but let the guilt of blood be forgiven them.'
9 You must purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, for you will be doing what is right in the Lord's sight.
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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.
10 "When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take some of them prisoner, and
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"When you go forth to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hands, and you take them captive,
11 if you see a beautiful woman among the captives, desire her, and want to take her as your wife,
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and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have desire for her and would take her for yourself as wife,
12 you are to bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,
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then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails.
13 remove the clothes she was wearing when she was taken prisoner, live in your house, and mourn for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife.
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And she shall put off her captive's garb, and shall remain in your house and bewail 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.
14 Then if you are not satisfied with her, you are to let her go where she wants, but you must not sell her for money or treat her as merchandise, because you have humiliated her.
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Then, if you have no delight in her, you shall let her go where she will; but you shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.
15 "If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons, and if the unloved wife has the firstborn son,
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"If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other disliked, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the disliked, and if the first-born son is hers that is disliked,
16 when that man gives what he has to his sons as an inheritance, he is not to show favoritism to the son of the loved [wife] as his firstborn over the firstborn of the unloved wife.
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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 first-born in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the first-born,
17 He must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of everything that belongs to him, for he is the firstfruits of his virility; he has the rights of the firstborn.
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but he shall acknowledge the first-born, the son of the disliked, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the first issue of his strength; the right of the first-born is his.
18 "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn't listen to them even after they discipline him,
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"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 chastise him, will not give heed to them,
19 his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown.
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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,
20 They will say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn't obey us. He's a glutton and a drunkard.'
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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.'
21 Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.
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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.
22 "If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
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"And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
23 you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung [on a tree] is under God's curse. You must not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
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his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; you shall not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.