Deuteronomy 21:6-16

6 And the greater men in birth of that city shall come to the slain man, and they shall wash their hands on the cow calf, that was slain in the valley; (And the men of great age, that is, the elders, of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall come, and they shall wash their hands over the cow calf, that was killed in the valley;)
7 and they shall say, Our hands shed not out this blood, neither our eyes have seen who shed it.
8 Lord, be merciful to thy people Israel, whom thou hast again-bought, and areckon thou not innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel. And the guilt of blood shall be done away from them. (Lord, be merciful to thy people Israel, whom thou hast bought back, or hast redeemed, and put thou not the guilt of innocent blood on thy people Israel. And so the guilt for the innocent blood shall be done away from them.)
9 Forsooth thou shalt be alien, or unguilty, from the blood of the innocent which is shed, when thou hast done that that the Lord commanded. (And so thou shalt be free from any guilt for the innocent blood which is shed, when thou hast done what the Lord commanded.)
10 If thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, that thy Lord God betaketh them in thine hand, and thou leadest (back) prisoners, (When thou goest out to battle against thy enemies, and the Lord thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou takest some prisoners,)
11 and thou seest in the number of those prisoners a fair woman, and thou lovest her, and will have her to wife (and will have her for your wife),
12 thou shalt bring her into thine house; which woman shall shave her hair, and she shall cut her nails about, (thou shalt bring her into thy house; and this woman shall shave off her hair, and she shall pare her nails,)
13 and she shall put away the cloth, wherein she was taken, and she shall sit in thine house, and she shall beweep her father and her mother by a month (and she shall put away the clothes in which she was taken prisoner, and she shall sit in thy house, and she shall weep for her father and her mother for a full month); and afterward thou shalt enter to her, and thou shalt sleep with her, and she shall be thy wife.
14 But if afterward she sitteth not in thy soul, that is, (if she) pleaseth not thy will, thou shalt deliver her free, neither thou shalt be able to sell her for money, neither oppress by power, for thou madest her low. (But if afterward she sitteth not right with thy soul, that is, if she pleaseth not thy will, thou shalt set her free, and thou shalt not be able to sell her for money, nor oppress her by force, for thou hast made her low.)
15 If a man hath two wives, one loved, and another hateful, and he begetteth of her free children, and the son of the odious wife is the first begotten, (If a man hath two wives, one loved, and the other hated, and he begetteth children with them, and the son of the hated wife is the first-born,)
16 and the father will part his chattel betwixt his sons, he shall not be able to make the son of the loved wife his first begotten son, and set him before the son of the hateful wife, (and the father will divide his possessions between his sons, he shall not be able to make the son of the loved wife his first-born son, and set him before the son of the hated wife,)

Deuteronomy 21:6-16 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.