Deuteronomy 21

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 "If in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, any one is found slain, lying in the open country, 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 then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are around him that is slain;	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 and the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer which has never been worked and which has not pulled in the 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 the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.	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 And the priests the sons of Levi shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled.	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 And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;	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 they shall testify, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, neither did our eyes see it shed.	7 And they shall say: ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
8 Forgive, O LORD, thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and set not the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel; but let the guilt of blood be forgiven them.'	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 So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do 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 forth to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hands, and you take them captive,	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 and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have desire for her and would take her for yourself 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 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall 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 she shall put off her captive's garb, and shall remain in your house and bewail her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her, and 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 Then, if you have no delight in her, you shall let her go where she will; but you shall not sell her for money, you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her.	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 has two wives, the one loved and the other disliked, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the disliked, and if the first-born son is hers that is disliked,	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 then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the first-born in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the first-born,	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 but he shall acknowledge the first-born, the son of the disliked, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the first issue of his strength; the right of the first-born is his.	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 rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they chastise him, will not give heed to them,	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 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives,	19 they shall take him and lead him to the elders of the city and to the gate of judgment.
20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; 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 the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel shall hear, and 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 "And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him 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 his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; you shall not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you for 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.”