21"When you are in the land the LORD your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don't know who committed the murder.H4672H2491H127H3068H430H5414H3423H5307H7704H3045H52212In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns.H2205H8199H3318H4058H5892H5439H24913When the nearest town has been determined, that town's elders must select from the herd a young cow that has never been trained or yoked to a plow.H5892H7138H2491H2205H5892H3947H1241H5697H5647H4900H59234They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the young cow's neck.H2205H5892H3381H5697H386H5158H5647H2232H6202H5697H6202H51585Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the LORD's name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases.H3548H1121H3878H5066H3068H430H977H8334H1288H8034H3068H6310H7379H50616"The elders of the town must wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken.H2205H5892H7138H2491H7364H3027H5697H6202H51587Then they must say, 'Our hands did not shed this person's blood, nor did we see it happen.H6030H559H3027H8210H1818H5869H72008O LORD, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.' Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person's blood.H3722H3068H5971H3478H6299H5414H5355H1818H5971H3478H7130H1818H37229By following these instructions, you will do what is right in the LORD's sight and will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community.H1197H5355H1818H7130H6213H3477H5869H3068
Marriage to a Captive Woman
10"Suppose you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD your God hands them over to you, and you take some of them as captives.H3318H4421H341H3068H430H5414H3027H7617H762811And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her.H7200H7633H8389H3303H802H2836H3947H80212If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails,H935H8432H1004H1548H7218H6213H685613and change the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. She will stay in your home, but let her mourn for her father and mother for a full month. Then you may marry her, and you will be her husband and she will be your wife.H5493H8071H7628H3427H1004H1058H1H517H3117H3391H310H935H1166H80214But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her.H2654H7971H5315H4376H4376H3701H6014H834H6031
Rights of the Firstborn
15"Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love.H376H8147H802H259H157H259H8130H3205H1121H157H8130H1060H1121H814616When the man divides his inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves, as if he were the firstborn son.H3117H1121H5157H3201H1121H157H1069H6440H1121H8130H106017He must recognize the rights of his oldest son, the son of the wife he does not love, by giving him a double portion. He is the first son of his father's virility, and the rights of the firstborn belong to him.H5234H1121H8130H1060H5414H8147H6310H4672H7225H202H4941H1062
Dealing with a Rebellious Son
18"Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him.H376H5637H4784H1121H8085H6963H1H6963H517H3256H808519In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate.H1H517H8610H3318H2205H5892H8179H472520The parents must say to the elders, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.'H559H2205H5892H1121H5637H4784H8085H6963H2151H543321Then all the men of his town must stone him to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.H582H5892H7275H68H4191H1197H7451H1197H7130H3478H8085H3372
Various Regulations
22"If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree,H376H2399H4941H4194H4191H8518H608623the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession.H5038H3885H6086H6912H6912H3117H8518H7045H430H127H2930H3068H430H5414H5159
Dublin, OH
,H376
