Atonement for an Unsolved Murder 1 UST Suppose that while you are living in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you to inherit, you find the body of a person that someone murdered. If you do not know who killed that person because it was in a field, BSB BSB: If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,
2 UST your elders and judges must go out to where someone found the body and measure the distance from there to each of the nearby towns. BSB BSB: your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.
3 UST Then the elders in the closest town must select a cow that has not had a baby and has never pulled with a yoke, that is, she has never done any work. BSB BSB: Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work,
4 UST They must take it to a place near a stream where the ground has never been plowed or planted. There they must break its neck. BSB BSB: bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.
5 UST The priests must go there also, because Yahweh our God has chosen them from the tribe of Levi to serve him and to be his representatives when they bless people. He has also chosen them to settle disputes involving injuries. BSB BSB: And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.
6 UST The elders from the closest town to the body must wash their hands over the young cow whose neck they break, there in the valley. BSB BSB: Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken,
7 UST They must say,‘We did not murder this person, and we did not see who did it. BSB BSB: and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
8 UST Yahweh, forgive us, your Israelite people whom you rescued{ from Egypt}. Do not consider us guilty for murdering an innocent person.’ When they do this, Yahweh will forgive the Israelites for the murder, BSB BSB: Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for.
9 UST because you will be doing what Yahweh considers to be right. You will not be considered guilty for murdering that person. BSB BSB: So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
Marrying a Captive Woman 10 UST When your fighting men go to fight against your enemies, and Yahweh our God enables you to defeat them, and they become your prisoners, BSB BSB: When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,
11 UST one of you may see among them a beautiful woman that he likes, and he may want to marry her. BSB BSB: if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife,
12 UST He should take her to his home, and there she must shave all the hair off her head and cut her fingernails. BSB BSB: then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,
13 UST She must change out of the clothes that she was wearing when she was captured. She must stay in that man’ s house and mourn for her parents for a month. After that, he may marry her and have sex with her. BSB BSB: and put aside the clothing of her captivity. After she has lived in your house a full month and mourned her father and mother, you may have relations with her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.
14 UST Later, if he no longer is pleased with her, he must let her leave him and go wherever she wants. But because{ sending her away} will humiliate her, he may not sell her to anyone else like a slave. BSB BSB: And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.
Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn 16 UST On the day when that man decides which of his possessions each son will obtain after he dies, he must not favor the son of the wife that he loves by giving him the larger share that should go to the firstborn son of the wife he does not favor. BSB BSB: when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife.
17 UST He must give the firstborn son twice as much of his possessions as he gives to any other sons, even though he is from the wife whom he does not favor. That son is the first proof that the father can reproduce, and the largest share belongs to him because he was born first. BSB BSB: Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his father’s strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.
A Rebellious Son (Luke 15:11–32)
18 UST Suppose there is a young man who is very stubborn and is always rebelling against his parents, and who will not heed what they say to him. Suppose that they punish him but he still does not pay attention to what they tell him. BSB BSB: If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,
19 UST If that happens, his parents must take him to the gate of the city where they live and have him stand in front of the elders of the city. BSB BSB: his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,
20 UST Then the parents must say to the elders of that city,‘This son of ours is stubborn and always rebelling against us. He will not pay attention to what we tell him. He eats too much, and he gets drunk.’ BSB BSB: and say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”
21 UST Then all the men of that city must execute him by throwing stones at him. By doing that, you will make sure no one from among you does this evil action. Everyone in Israel will hear about what happened and they will be afraid to do what he did. BSB BSB: Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.
Cursed Is Anyone Hung on a Tree 22 UST If you execute someone for committing a crime for which he deserves to die, and you hang his corpse on a post, BSB BSB: If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.