New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 If, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, a body is found lying in open country, and it is not known who struck the person down,
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If, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you come across the dead body of a man in the open country, and you have no idea who has put him to death:
2 then your elders and your judges shall come out to measure the distances to the towns that are near the body.
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Then your responsible men and your judges are to come out, and give orders for the distance from the dead body to the towns round about it to be measured;
3 The elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked, one that has not pulled in the yoke;
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And whichever town is nearest to the body, the responsible men of that town are to take from the herd a young cow which has never been used for work or put under the yoke;
4 the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the wadi.
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And they are to take the cow into a valley where there is flowing water, and which is not ploughed or planted, and there the neck of the cow is to be broken:
5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord, and by their decision all cases of dispute and assault shall be settled.
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Then the priests, the sons of Levi, are to come near; for they have been marked out by the Lord your God to be his servants and to give blessings in the name of the Lord; and by their decision every argument and every blow is to be judged:
6 All the elders of that town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi,
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And all the responsible men of that town which is nearest to the dead man, washing their hands over the cow whose neck was broken in the valley,
7 and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to it.
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Will say, This death is not the work of our hands and our eyes have not seen it.
8 Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel, whom you redeemed; do not let the guilt of innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel." Then they will be absolved of bloodguilt.
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Have mercy, O Lord, on your people Israel whom you have made free, and take away from your people the crime of a death without cause. Then they will no longer be responsible for the man's death.
9 So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, because you must do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
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So you will take away the crime of a death without cause from among you, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
10 When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them captive,
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When you go out to war against other nations, and the Lord your God gives them up into your hands and you take them as prisoners;
11 suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman whom you desire and want to marry,
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If among the prisoners you see a beautiful woman and it is your desire to make her your wife;
12 and so you bring her home to your house: she shall shave her head, pare her nails,
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Then take her back to your house; and let her hair and her nails be cut;
13 discard her captive's garb, and shall remain in your house a full month, mourning for her father and mother; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.
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And let her take off the dress in which she was made prisoner and go on living in your house and weeping for her father and mother for a full month: and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she will be your wife.
14 But if you are not satisfied with her, you shall let her go free and not sell her for money. You must not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.
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But if you have no delight in her, you are to let her go wherever she will; you may not take a price for her as if she was your property, for you have made use of her for your pleasure.
15 If a man has two wives, one of them loved and the other disliked, and if both the loved and the disliked have borne him sons, the firstborn being the son of the one who is disliked,
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If a man has two wives, one greatly loved and the other hated, and the two of them have had children by him; and if the first son is the child of the hated wife:
16 then on the day when he wills his possessions to his sons, he is not permitted to treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the firstborn.
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Then when he gives his property to his sons for their heritage, he is not to put the son of his loved one in the place of the first son, the son of the hated wife:
17 He must acknowledge as firstborn the son of the one who is disliked, giving him a double portion of all that he has; since he is the first issue of his virility, the right of the firstborn is his.
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But he is to give his first son his birthright, and twice as great a part of his property: for he is the first-fruits of his strength and the right of the first son is his.
18 If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him,
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If a man has a son who is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, who gives no attention to the voice of his father and mother, and will not be ruled by them, though they give him punishment:
19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place.
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Then let his father and mother take him to the responsible men of the town, to the public place;
20 They shall say to the elders of his town, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard."
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And say to them, This son of ours is hard-hearted and uncontrolled, he will not give attention to us; he gives himself up to pleasure and strong drink.
21 Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel will hear, and be afraid.
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Then he is to be stoned to death by all the men of the town: so you are to put away the evil from among you; and all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear.
22 When someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and is executed, and you hang him on a tree,
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If a man does a crime for which the punishment is death, and he is put to death by hanging him on a tree;
23 his corpse must not remain all night upon the tree; you shall bury him that same day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you for possession.
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Do not let his body be on the tree all night, but put it to rest in the earth the same day; for the man who undergoes hanging is cursed by God; so do not make unclean the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, 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.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.