Deuteronomy 21

1If someone is found slain in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it isn’t known who has struck him,Cross-references: Ps 5:6 · Ps 9:12 · Prov 28:17 · Isa 26:21 · Acts 28:4

2then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain.Cross-references: Deut 16:18 · Rom 13:3

3It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn’t been worked with and which has not drawn in the yoke.Cross-references: Num 19:2 · Jer 31:18 · Matt 11:28 · Phil 2:8

4The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.Cross-references: 1Pet 2:21 · 1Pet 3:18

5The priests the sons of Levi shall come near, for them Yahweh your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in Yahweh’s name; and according to their word shall every controversy and every assault be decided.Cross-references: Num 6:22 · Deut 10:8 · Deut 17:8 · Deut 18:5 · Deut 19:17 · 1Chr 23:13 · +1 more

6All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.Cross-references: Job 9:30 · Ps 19:12 · Ps 26:6 · Ps 51:2 · Ps 51:7 · Ps 51:14 · +4 more

7They shall answer and say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.Cross-references: Num 5:19 · 2Sam 16:8 · Job 21:21 · Job 21:31 · Ps 7:3

8Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don’t allow innocent blood among your people Israel.” The blood shall be forgiven them.Cross-references: Num 35:33 · 2Sam 3:28 · 2Ki 24:4 · Ps 19:12 · Jer 26:15 · Ezek 23:3 · +4 more

9So you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’s eyes.Cross-references: Deut 13:18 · Deut 19:12 · 2Ki 10:30

10When you go out to battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God delivers them into your hands and you carry them away captive,Cross-references: Deut 20:10 · Josh 21:44

11and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her, and desire to take her as your wife,Cross-references: Gen 6:2 · Gen 12:14 · Gen 29:18 · Gen 34:3 · Gen 34:8 · Num 31:18 · +4 more

12then you shall bring her home to your house. She shall shave her head and trim her nails.Cross-references: Lev 14:9 · Num 6:9 · 1Cor 11:6 · Eph 4:22

13She shall take off the clothing of her captivity, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.Cross-references: Ps 45:10 · Luke 14:26

14It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she desires; but you shall not sell her at all for money. You shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her.Cross-references: Gen 34:2 · Ex 21:7 · Deut 22:19 · Deut 22:24 · Deut 22:29 · Judg 19:24

15If a man has two wives, the one beloved and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated,Cross-references: Gen 29:18 · Gen 29:20 · Gen 29:30 · Gen 29:33 · 1Sam 1:4

16then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the beloved the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn;Cross-references: 1Chr 5:2 · 1Chr 26:10 · 2Chr 11:19 · 2Chr 21:3 · Rom 8:29 · Phil 4:8 · +1 more

17but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.Cross-references: Gen 25:5 · Gen 25:31 · Gen 49:3 · 1Chr 5:1 · Ps 105:36

18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them,Cross-references: Ex 20:12 · Ex 21:15 · Ex 21:17 · Lev 19:3 · Lev 21:9 · Deut 8:5 · +22 more

19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place.Cross-references: Deut 16:18 · Deut 21:2 · Deut 25:7 · Zech 13:3

20They shall tell 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.”Cross-references: Prov 19:26 · Prov 20:1 · Prov 23:19 · Prov 23:29 · Prov 29:17

21All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear.Cross-references: Lev 24:16 · Deut 13:5 · Deut 13:10 · Deut 17:5 · Deut 19:19 · Deut 22:21 · +1 more

22If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,Cross-references: Num 25:4 · Deut 19:6 · Deut 22:26 · Josh 8:29 · Josh 10:26 · 1Sam 26:16 · +11 moreExamined: The Historical Jesus →

23his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. Don’t defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.Cross-references: Lev 18:25 · Num 25:4 · Num 35:33 · Deut 7:26 · Josh 7:12 · Josh 8:29 · +7 moreExamined: The Historical Jesus →