21:1 If a homicide victim¹ should be found lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a possession,² and no one knows who killed³ him, 21:2 your elders and judges shall come forward and measure how far it is to the cities that surround the corpse.⁴ 21:3 And the elders of the city nearest to the victim⁵ shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked, never having drawn with the yoke, 21:4 and they⁶ shall take the heifer down to a wadi with running water,⁷ to a valley neither plowed or sown,⁸ and they shall break the heifer’s neck there at the wadi. 21:5 Then the Levitical priests⁹ shall approach—for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve him and to bless in his name,¹⁰ and at their word¹¹ every controversy and punishment¹² shall be settled—21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse¹³ will wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi.¹⁴ 21:7 They will speak up¹⁵ and say, “Our hands have not spilled this blood nor have we¹⁶ witnessed the crime.¹⁷ 21:8 Do not blame¹⁸ your people Israel whom you redeemed, O LORD, and do not attribute the bloodshed of an innocent person to them in general.”¹⁹ Then the bloodshed will be atoned. 21:9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, for you must do what is right before the LORD.

21:10 When you engage your enemies in warfare and the LORD your God allows you to prevail²⁰ and you take prisoners, 21:11 if you should see among them²¹ an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife 21:12 you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head,²² trim her nails, 21:13 remove her prisoners clothing, go to your house, and lament for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations²³ with her and become her husband and she your wife. 21:14 If it should turn out that you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go²⁴ where she pleases. You cannot in any case sell her;²⁵ you must not take advantage of²⁶ her inasmuch as you have already humiliated²⁷ her.

21:15 If a man have two wives, one whom he loves more than the other,²⁸ and they bear him children,²⁹ both the more and less loved,³⁰ 21:16 in the day he bestows his inheritance³¹ he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the son of the other³² who is actually the firstborn. 21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved³³ wife as firstborn and give him the double portion³⁴ of all he has, for he is the beginning of his procreation³⁵—to him should go the right of the firstborn. 21:18 If a person should have a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail,³⁶ 21:19 his father and mother must take him in hand³⁷ and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his place. 21:20 They will say to the elders³⁸ of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no heed to what we say—he is a glutton and drunkard.” 21:21 Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. Thus you will purge out³⁹ wickedness from your midst and all Israel⁴⁰ will hear about it and fear.

21:22 If a person commit a sin worthy of death⁴¹ and be put to death, and you hang him from a tree, 21:23 his body must not remain all night upon the tree; instead you must bury him that same day for the one hanged is cursed by God.⁴² You must not thereby pollute your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.