Deuteronomy_Chapter 21

If in the land that the Lord your God has given you as an inheritance, you find someone who has been killed lying in the field, and you do not know who killed them,

The elders and judges shall go out and measure from the slain to the surrounding cities,

The elders of the city that is closest to the person who was killed shall take a female calf from the herd that has not been plowed or yoked,

Take the heifer to the flowing valley where it has not been cultivated, and break its neck in the valley.

The descendants of Levi, the priest, are to come near. For the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him, and to bless them in the name of the Lord. All disputes and beatings must be judged by them.

The elders of that city, who are closest to the person who was killed, shall wash their hands in the valley above the heifer whose neck is broken,

The answer to the prayer is, “Our hands have not shed the blood of this man.”. Our eyes have not seen this either.

O Lord, forgive the people of Israel whom you have redeemed, and do not let the guilt of shedding innocent blood be on your people Israel. In this way, the crime of bloodshed will be pardoned.

Do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, and you will be able to remove the sin of shedding innocent blood from among you.

When you went out to fight against your enemies, the Lord your God gave them into your hands, and you took them captive,

If you see a beautiful woman among the captives and admire her, then you will marry her,

You can take her to your house. She needs to shave her hair, trim her nails,

Take off the clothes you wore when you were abducted, live in your home and mourn for your parents for a whole month, and then you can have sex with her. You are her husband, she is your wife.

If you are not pleased with her later on, let her go out at will. You must not sell her for money or treat her like a maid, because you have defiled her.

If a person has two wives, one for love and the other for evil, both for love and for evil, they give birth to sons, but the eldest son is born to the wife whom they despise.

When it comes to dividing the inheritance among sons, do not make the son born to your beloved wife the eldest son, above the son born to your beloved wife,

But he shall acknowledge the son of his wicked wife as the firstborn, and give him an additional portion of his inheritance. Because this son was born when he was strong, the eldest son’s title should belong to him.

If a person has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his parents, even though they punish him, he will not listen,

My parents will catch him and take him to the local city gate, where the elders of the city are located,

Saying to the elders, Our son is stubborn and rebellious, disobedient to our words, and a gluttonous and wine loving person.

The people of this city will stone him to death. So put away that evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

If a person commits a crime worthy of death and is put to death, hang him on a wood,

His body shall not stay overnight on wood, but shall be buried on the same day, so as not to defile the land that the Lord your God has given you as an inheritance. Because those who are hanged are cursed before God.