Deuteronomy 21:2-12

2 Your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the place where the body was found to each of the nearby towns.

3 Then the leaders of the town nearest to where the body was found are to select a young cow that has never been used for work.

4 They are to take it down to a spot near a stream that never runs dry and where the ground has never been plowed or planted, and there they are to break its neck.

5 The levitical priests are to go there also, because they are to decide every legal case involving violence. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name.

6 Then all the leaders from the town nearest the place where the murdered person was found are to wash their hands over the cow

7 and say, "We did not murder this one, and we do not know who did it.

8 Lord, forgive your people Israel, whom you rescued from Egypt. Forgive us and do not hold us responsible for the murder of an innocent person.'

9 And so, by doing what the Lord requires, you will not be held responsible for the murder.

10 "When the Lord your God gives you victory in battle and you take prisoners,

11 you may see among them a beautiful woman that you like and want to marry.

12 Take her to your home, where she will shave her head, cut her fingernails,

Deuteronomy 21:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 21

This chapter treats of the beheading of the heifer, for the expiation of unknown murder, and the rules to be observed in it, De 21:1-9 of a beautiful captive woman an Israelite is desirous of having for his wife, and what methods he must take to accomplish it, De 21:10-14, of giving the double portion to the firstborn, which he must not be deprived of in favour of the son of a beloved wife, De 21:15-17 and of the stubborn and rebellious son, who remaining so must be put to death, De 21:18-21 and of burying a person hanged on a tree the same day he is executed, De 21:22,23.

Footnotes

• [a]. shave her head; [or] trim her hair.