New Revised Standard NRS
King James Version KJV
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 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:
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 thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:
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 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;
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 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:
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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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:
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 elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded 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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And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes 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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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.
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 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 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 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,
11 suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman whom you desire and want to marry,
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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;
12 and so you bring her home to your house: she shall shave her head, pare 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;
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 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.
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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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 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 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:
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 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:
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 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.
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 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:
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 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;
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 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.
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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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 When someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and is executed, and you hang him on a tree,
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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:
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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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.
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 King James Version is in the public domain.