Deuteronomy 21-22

Darby Translation

21 If one be found slain in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess, lying in the field, [and] it be not known who hath smitten him,

² then thine elders and thy judges shall go forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain;

³ and the city that is nearest unto him that is slain, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer that hath not been wrought with, that hath not drawn in the yoke;

⁴ and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto an ever-flowing watercourse, which is not tilled, nor is it sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the watercourse;

⁵ and the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them Jehovah thy God hath chosen to do service unto him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah; and according to their word shall be every controversy and every stroke.

⁶ And all the elders of that city, that are nearest unto him that is slain, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck is broken in the watercourse,

⁷ and shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

⁸ Forgive thy people Israel, whom thou, Jehovah, hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood to the charge of thy people Israel; and the blood shall be expiated for them.

⁹ So shalt thou put away innocent blood from thy midst, when thou shalt do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah.

¹⁰ When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and Jehovah thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou hast taken captives of them,

¹¹ and thou seest among the captives a woman of beautiful form, and hast a desire unto her, and takest her as thy wife;

¹² then thou shalt bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;

¹³ and she shall put the clothes of her captivity from off her, and shall abide in thy house, and bewail her father and mother a full month, and afterwards thou mayest go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.

¹⁴ And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go according to her desire; but thou shalt in no wise sell her for money; thou shalt not treat her as a slave, because thou hast humbled her.

¹⁵ If a man have two wives, one beloved, and one hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and the firstborn son be hers that was hated;

¹⁶ then it shall be, in the day that he maketh his sons to inherit what he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn;

¹⁷ but he shall acknowledge as firstborn the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that is found with him; for he is the firstfruits of his vigour: the right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸ If a man have an unmanageable and rebellious son, who hearkeneth not unto the voice of his father, nor unto the voice of his mother, and they have chastened him, but he hearkeneth not 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 unmanageable and rebellious, he hearkeneth not unto our voice; he is a profligate and a drunkard.

²¹ And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die. And thou shalt put evil away from thy midst; and all Israel shall hear and fear.

²² And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou have hanged him on a tree,

²³ his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day (for he that is hanged is a curse of God); and thou shalt not defile thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

22 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them back unto thy brother.

² And if thy brother be not near unto thee, and thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thy house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it unto him.

³ And so shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his clothing; and so shalt thou do with everything that is lost of thy brother, which he loseth, and thou findest: thou mayest not hide thyself.

⁴ Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case [help] him to lift them up.

⁵ There shall not be a man's apparel on a woman, neither shall a man put on a woman's clothing; for whoever doeth so is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.

⁶ If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree, or upon the ground, with young or with eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:

⁷ thou shalt in any case let the dam go, and thou mayest take the young to thee, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.

⁸ When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any one should in any wise fall from it.

⁹ Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with [seed of] two sorts, lest the whole of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the produce of thy vineyard, be forfeited.

¹⁰ Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.

¹¹ Thou shalt not wear a garment of mixed material, [woven] of wool and linen together.

¹² Tassels shalt thou make thee on the four corners of thy clothing, wherewith thou coverest thyself.

¹³ If a man take a wife, and go in unto her and hate her,

¹⁴ and charge her with things for scandalous talk, and cause an evil name against her to be spread abroad, and say, This woman have I taken, and I came in unto her, and I did not find her a virgin;

¹⁵ then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate;

¹⁶ and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man as wife, and he hates her;

¹⁷ and behold, he charges her with things for scandalous talk, saying, I found not thy daughter a virgin; and here are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

¹⁸ And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him;

¹⁹ and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath caused an evil name to be spread abroad against a virgin in Israel. And she shall remain his wife: he may not put her away all his days.

²⁰ But if this thing is true, [and] virginity hath not been found with the damsel;

²¹ then they shall bring out the damsel unto the entrance of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought infamy in Israel, committing fornication in her father's house; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

²² If a man be found lying with a man's wife, they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.

²³ If a damsel, a virgin, be betrothed to some one, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her,

²⁴ then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, [being] in the city, and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

²⁵ But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die;

²⁶ and unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing: there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and murdereth him, so is this matter;

²⁷ for he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, and there was no one to save her.

²⁸ If a man find a damsel, a virgin, who is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found,

²⁹ then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty [shekels] of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.

³⁰ A man shall not take his father's wife, nor uncover his father's skirt.