Deuteronomy 21

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 "If the corpse of a slain man is found lying in the open on the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you to occupy, and it is not known who killed him,	1 “When there will have been found in the land, which the Lord your God will give to you, the corpse of a man who has been killed, and it is not known who is guilty of the murder,
2 your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distances to the cities that are in the neighborhood of the corpse.	2 your judges and those greater by birth shall go out and measure, from the place of the corpse, the distance to each of the surrounding cities.
3 When it is established which city is nearest the corpse, the elders of that city shall take a heifer that has never been put to work as a draft animal under a yoke,	3 And in whichever one they perceive to be closer than the others, the elders shall take a calf from the herd, one which has not pulled with a yoke, nor tilled with a plow.
4 and bringing it down to a wadi with an everflowing stream at a place that has not been plowed or sown, they shall cut the heifer's throat there in the wadi.	4 And they shall lead it into a rough and stony valley, one which has never been tilled or sown. And in that place, they shall cut the neck of the calf.
5 The priests, the descendants of Levi, shall also be present, for the LORD, your God, has chosen them to minister to him and to give blessings in his name, and every case of dispute or violence must be settled by their decision.	5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall approach, those whom the Lord your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and to decide every controversy by their word, and to judge which things are clean and which are unclean.
6 Then all the elders of that city nearest the corpse shall wash their hands over the heifer whose throat was cut in the wadi,	6 And those greater by birth of that city, nearest to the one who was slain, shall go and shall wash their hands over the calf that was killed in the valley.
7 and shall declare, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see the deed.	7 And they shall say: ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
8 Absolve, O LORD, your people Israel, whom you have ransomed, and let not the guilt of shedding innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.' Thus they shall be absolved from the guilt of bloodshed,	8 Be merciful to your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, and do not charge them with innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.’ And so the guilt of the blood will be taken away from them.
9 and you shall purge from your midst the guilt of innocent blood, that you may prosper for doing what is right in the sight of the LORD.	9 Then you will be free from the blood that was shed against the innocent, when you will have done as the Lord has instructed you.
10 "When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD, your God, delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives,	10 If you have gone out to fight against your enemies, and the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand, and if, as you are leading away the captives,
11 if you see a comely woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as wife,	11 you see among the number of the captives a beautiful woman, and you love her, and you are willing to have her as a wife:
12 you may take her home to your house. But before she may live there, she must shave her head and pare her nails	12 then you shall lead her into your house. And she shall shave off her hair, and cut her nails short,
13 and lay aside her captive's garb. After she has mourned her father and mother for a full month, you may have relations with her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife.	13 and remove the garment in which she was captured. And she shall sit in your house and weep for her father and mother, for one month. And after that, you shall enter to her and sleep with her, and she shall be your wife.
14 However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion.	14 But if afterwards she does not sit well in your mind, you shall set her free. You cannot sell her for money, nor can you oppress her by force. For you have humiliated her.
15 "If a man with two wives loves one and dislikes the other; and if both bear him sons, but the first-born is of her whom he dislikes:	15 If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other hated, and they have produced children by him, and if the son of the hated wife is the firstborn,
16 when he comes to bequeath his property to his sons he may not consider as his first-born the son of the wife he loves, in preference to his true first-born, the son of the wife whom he dislikes.	16 and if he wishes to divide his substance among his sons: he cannot make the son of the beloved wife the firstborn, and so prefer him before the son of the hated wife.
17 On the contrary, he shall recognize as his first-born the son of her whom he dislikes, giving him a double share of whatever he happens to own, since he is the first fruits of his manhood, and to him belong the rights of the first-born.	17 Instead, he shall acknowledge the son of the hated wife as the firstborn, and he shall give to him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the first among his children, and the rights of the firstborn are owed to him.
18 "If a man has a stubborn and unruly son who will not listen to his father or mother, and will not obey them even though they chastise him,	18 If a man produces a disobedient and reckless son, who will not listen to the orders of his father or mother, and, having been corrected, shows contempt for obedience:
19 his father and mother shall have him apprehended and brought out to the elders at the gate of his home city,	19 they shall take him and lead him to the elders of the city and to the gate of judgment.
20 where they shall say to those city elders, 'This son of ours is a stubborn and unruly fellow who will not listen to us; he is a glutton and a drunkard.'	20 And they shall say to them: ‘This our son is reckless and disobedient. He shows contempt when listening to our admonitions. He occupies himself with carousing, and self-indulgence, and feasting.’
21 Then all his fellow citizens shall stone him to death. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel, on hearing of it, shall fear.	21 Then the people of the city shall stone him to death. And he shall die, so that you may take away the evil from your midst. And so may all of Israel, upon hearing it, be very afraid.
22 "If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his corpse hung on a tree,	22 When a man will have sinned in a matter which is punished by death, and, having been judged unto death, he has been hanged on a gallows:
23 it shall not remain on the tree overnight. You shall bury it the same day; otherwise, since God's curse rests on him who hangs on a tree, you will defile the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.	23 his corpse shall not remain on the tree. Instead, he shall be buried on the same day. For he who hangs from a tree has been cursed by God, and you shall not defile your land, which the Lord your God will give to you as a possession.”