Deuteronomy 21:1-9
Expiation of a Crime
1 “If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the Lord your God gives you to (a)possess, and it is not known who has struck him,
2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one.
3 It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke;
4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.
5 Then (A)the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; and every dispute and every (b)assault (c)shall be settled by them.
6 All the elders of that city (d)which is nearest to the slain man shall (B)wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;
7 and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
8 (e)Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Lord, and do not place the guilt of (C)innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the bloodguiltiness shall be (f)forgiven them.
9 (D)So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
Footnotes:
a.
Deuteronomy 21:1: ['Lit ', possess it]
b.
Deuteronomy 21:5: ['Lit ', stroke]
c.
Deuteronomy 21:5: ['Lit ', shall be according to their mouth]
d.
Deuteronomy 21:6: ['Lit ', who are]
e.
Deuteronomy 21:8: ['Lit ', Cover over, atone for]
f.
Deuteronomy 21:8: ['Lit ', covered over, atoned for]