Chapter 21

  If one shall be found slain 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:  

  Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him that is slain:  

  And it shall be that the city which is next to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke;  

  And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a rough valley, which is neither tilled nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley;  

  And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near (for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the LORD) and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried;  

  And all the elders of that city that are next to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:  

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

  Be merciful, O LORD, to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood to the charge of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them.  

  So shalt thou remove the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.  

  When thou goest forth to war against thy enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thy hands, and thou hast taken them captive,  

  And thou seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire to her, that thou wouldest have her for thy wife:  

  Then thou shalt bring her home to thy house, and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails:  

  And she shall put off from her the raiment of her captivity, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that, thou shalt go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.  

  And it shall be, if thou shalt have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money; thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.  

  If a man shall have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the first-born son be hers that was hated:  

  Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not prefer the son of the beloved first-born, before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first-born:  

  But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the first-born, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born is his.  

  If a man shall have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not hearken to them:  

  Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place;  

  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.  

  And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he may die: so shalt thou remove evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.  

  And if a man shall have committed a sin worthy of death, and he must be put to death, and thou shalt hang him on a tree:  

  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 accursed of God;) that thy land may not be defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.