Deuteronomy 21

Unsolved Murders, Blood Cannot Stay on the Land

1 If somebody gets found dead out in the field in the land God is giving you, and nobody knows who did it,

2 The leaders and judges must come out and measure which town is closest to the body.

3 Then the elders of the nearest town must bring in a young cow that has not been worked or used for plowing.

4 Take that cow to a valley with a stream, a place where the ground is not been worked, and break the cow’s neck right there.

5 Then the Levite priests step in, they the ones chosen to speak for God and settle stuff. God uses them to hand out blessings and decisions.

6 The elders of that town must wash their hands over the dead cow.

7 They say, “We did not do it. We did not see who did.”

8 “Lord, forgive Your people. Do not let innocent blood be on us.”

9 That is how you all remove the guilt of innocent blood and do what is right in God’s eyes.

If You Take a Woman as a Wife After War

10 If you all go to war and God gives you the W, and you take captives,

11 And you see a woman among them that is fine to you and you want her as a wife,

12 Bring her home. She must shave her head and trim her nails.

13 She must take off her old clothes from her country, mourn her mom and dad for a full month, and after that, you can take her as your wife.

14 But if later on you do not want her anymore, do not treat her like property, let her go free. You humbled her, now let her leave in peace.

Dealing with the Firstborn Son from a Hated Wife

15 Say a man got two wives, one he loves, one he does not, and both give him sons. If the firstborn is from the wife he does not like…

16 When it is time to pass down the inheritance, he cannot give the birthright to the son of the wife he loves if the firstborn belongs to the other woman.

17 He must respect the real firstborn and give him the double portion, that is the law.

If a Son Wilding Out and Will Not Listen

18 If a man got a son who is straight up rebellious, will not listen to his parents, even when they discipline him…

19 Mom and dad must grab him and take him to the town elders at the city gate.

20 They tell the elders, “This son of ours is wild, lazy, disrespectful, a drunk, a glutton.”

21 Then all the men of the city stone him till he is dead. That is how you wipe out evil and keep the rest of the kids shook.

Bury the Dead Before Sundown

22 If somebody is guilty of a crime that deserves death and you hang his body on a tree,

23 Do not leave the body hanging overnight. Bury him the same day, Because anybody hung on a tree is cursed by God. You do not want to defile the land the Lord is blessing you with.