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21
1 If there be found a slain person 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 shall thy elders and thy judges go forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about the one that is slain. 3 And it shall be, that the city which is the nearest unto the slain person, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer, which hath not been wrought with, which hath not drawn in a yoke; 4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither tilled nor sown, and they shall break there the neck of the heifer in the valley; 5 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 after their decision shall be done [at] every controversy and every injury; 6 And all the elders of that city who are nearest unto the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer, the neck of which is broken in the valley. 7 And they shall commence and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it. 8 Grant pardon unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, O Lord, and lay not innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel: and the blood shall be forgiven unto them. 9 And thou shalt put away the [guilt of] the innocent blood from the midst of thee, when thou wilt do what is right in the eyes of the Lord. 10 When thou goest forth to war against thy enemies, and the Lord thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou takest captives of them; 11 And thou seest among the captives a woman of handsome form, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldst take her to thee for wife: 12 Then shalt thou bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and let grow her nails; 13 And she shall put off the raiment of her captivity from her, and she shall remain in thy house, and weep for her father and her mother a full month; and after that thou mayest go in unto her, and be her husband, that she may become thy wife. 14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then shalt thou let her go whither she will; but thou shalt nowise sell her for money; thou shalt not make a servant of her, because thou hast humbled her. 15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and the other hated, and they bear him children, both the beloved and the hated; so that the first-born son be hers that is hated: 16 Then shall it be, when he divideth as inheritance among his sons what he hath, that he shall not institute the son of the beloved as the first-born before the son of the hated, the firstborn; 17 But the first-born, the son of the hated woman, shall he acknowledge, to give him a double portion of all that is found in his possession; for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongeth the right of the first birth. 18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who hearkeneth not to the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and they chastise him, and he will not hearken unto them: 19 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 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not hearken to our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die; and thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee; and all Israel shall hear, and be afraid. 22 And if a man have committed a sin for which there is a punishment of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: 23 Then shall his body not remain all night on the tree, but thou shalt surely bury him on that day; [for he that is hanged is a dishonor of God;] and thou shalt not defile thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

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