(KJV) Deuteronomy 211

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⥃Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

[1] If [one] be found slain in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, [and] it be not known who hath slain him:2 [2] Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which [are] round about him that is slain:3 [3] An4d it shall be, [that] the city [which is] next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, [and] which hath not drawn in the yoke; [4] And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley5, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike6 off the heifer’s neck there in the valley: [5] And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them7 the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the Lord; and by their word89 shall every controversy and every stroke be [tried]: [6] And all the elders of that city, [that are] next unto the slain [man], shall wash their hands10 over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: [7] And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen [it].11 [8] Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not12 innocent blood unto thy people13 of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. [9] So shalt thou14 put away the [guilt of] innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt15 do [that which is] right in the sight of the Lord.

⥃Marrying a Captive Woman

[10] When thou goest16 forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, [11] And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire17 unto her, that18 thou wouldest have her to thy wife; [12] Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall19 shave her head, and pare her nails20; [13] And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail21 her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. [14] And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt22 let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou23 hast humbled her.

⥃Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn

[15] If a man have two wives24, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, [both] the beloved and the hated; and [if] the firstborn son be hers that was hated: [16] Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit [that] which he hath, [that] he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, [which is indeed] the firstborn:25 [17] But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated [for] the firstborn, by giving26 him a double portion of all that he hath27: for he [is] the beginning28 of his strength; the right29 of the firstborn [is] his.

⥃A Rebellious Son [ Luke 15:11–32 ]

[18] If a man have a stubborn30 and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice31 of his father, or the voice of his mother, and [that], when they32 have chastened him, will not33 hearken unto them: [19] Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring34 him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; [20] And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son [is] stubborn and rebellious, he will not35 obey our voice; [he is] a glutton36, and a drunkard. [21] And all the men37 of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou38 put evil away from among you; and all Israel39 shall hear, and fear.

⥃Cursed Is Anyone Hung on a Tree

[22] [¶]And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death40, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang41 him on a tree:42 [23] His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged [is] accursed of God43;) that thy land44 be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.

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  1. Deut 21:1, The expiation of an uncertain murder; Deut 21:10, The usage of a captive taken to wife; Deut 21:15, The first-born is not to be disinherited upon private affection; Deut 21:18, A rebellious son is to be stoned to death; Deut 21:22, The malefactor must not hang all night on a tree. ↩

  2. Ps 5:6, Ps 9:12; Prov 28:17; Isa 26:21; Acts 28:4 ↩

  3. Deut 16:18-19; Rom 13:3-4 ↩

  4. Num 19:2; Jer 31:18; Matt 11:28-30; Phil 2:8 ↩

  5. As the word nachal signifies both a torrent, and the valley or glen through which it flows, nachal aithan may be rendered a rapid torrent. Many torrents in Judea are dry during a great part of the year; when not only their banks but their beds may be ploughed, and yield a crop. Hence there is no impropriety in specifying that such a place should be one that "is neither cared nor sown;" while the circumstance that the elders were to wash their hands over the heifer, whose head had been struck off into the stream, confirms this interpretation. The spot of ground where this sacrifice was made must be uncultivated, because it was considered as a sacrifice for the atonement of murder, and, consequently, would pollute the land. ↩

  6. 1Pet 2:21-24, 1Pet 3:18 ↩

  7. Deut 10:8, Deut 18:5; Num 6:22-27; 1Chr 23:13 ↩

  8. Deut 17:8-12; Mal 2:7 ↩

  9. Heb. mouth ↩

  10. Washing the hands was anciently a symbolical action, denoting that the person was innocent of the crime in question. Job 9:30; Ps 19:12, Ps 26:6, Ps 51:2, Ps 51:7, Ps 51:14, Ps 73:13; Jer 2:22; Matt 27:24-25; Heb 9:10 ↩

  11. Num 5:19-28; 2Sam 16:8; Job 21:21-23, Job 21:31-34; Ps 7:3-4 ↩

  12. Num 35:33; 2Sam 3:28; 2Kgs 24:4; Ps 19:12; Jer 26:15; Ezek 23:3, Ezek 23:24-25; Jonah 1:14; Matt 23:35; 1Thess 2:15-16 ↩

  13. Heb. in the midst ↩

  14. Deut 19:12-13 ↩

  15. Deut 13:18; 2Kgs 10:30-31 ↩

  16. Deut 20:10-16 ↩

  17. Gen 6:2, Gen 12:14-15, Gen 29:18-20, Gen 34:3, Gen 34:8; Judg 14:2-3; Prov 6:25, Prov 31:10, Prov 31:30 ↩

  18. Num 31:18 ↩

  19. This was in token of renouncing her religion, and becoming a proselyte to that of the Jews. This is still a custom in the East. When a Christian turns Mohammedan, his head is shaved, and he is carried through the city, crying, la eelah eela allah wemochammed resoolullahee, "There is no God but the God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God." 1Cor 11:6; Eph 4:22 ↩

  20. or, suffer to grow, Heb. make, or dress, Weâsethah eth tzipparneyha, "and she shall make her nails;" i.e., probably neither paring nor letting them grow, but dressing or beautifying them as the Eastern women still do by tinging them with the leaves of an odoriferous plant called alhenna, which Hasselquist (p. 246) informs us, "grows in India and in upper and lower Egypt, flowering from May to August. The leaves are pulverized and made into a paste with water. They bind this paste on the nails of their hands and feet, and keep it on all night. This gives them a deep yellow, which is greatly admired by Eastern nations. The colour lasts for three or four weeks before there is occasion to renew it. The custom is so ancient in Egypt, that I have seen the nails of mummies dyed in this manner." ↩

  21. Ps 45:10-11; Luke 14:26-27 ↩

  22. Exod 21:7-11 ↩

  23. Deut 22:19, Deut 22:24, Deut 22:29; Gen 34:2; Judg 19:24 ↩

  24. Gen 29:18, Gen 29:20, Gen 29:30-31, Gen 29:33; 1Sam 1:4-5 ↩

  25. 1Chr 5:2, 1Chr 26:10; 2Chr 11:19-22, 2Chr 21:3; Rom 8:29; Phil 4:8; Heb 12:16-17 ↩

  26. Gen 25:5-6, Gen 25:32, Gen 25:34; 1Chr 5:1-2 ↩

  27. Heb. that is found with him ↩

  28. Gen 49:3; Ps 105:36 ↩

  29. Gen 25:31-34 ↩

  30. Prov 28:24, Prov 30:11, Prov 30:17; Isa 1:2 ↩

  31. Deut 27:16; Exod 20:12, Exod 21:15, Exod 21:17; Lev 19:3, Lev 21:9; Prov 15:5, Prov 20:20; Ezek 22:7 ↩

  32. Deut 8:5; 2Sam 7:14; Prov 13:24, Prov 19:18, Prov 22:15, Prov 23:13-14, Prov 29:17; Heb 12:9-11 ↩

  33. Isa 1:5; Jer 5:3, Jer 31:18; Ezek 24:13; Amos 4:11-12 ↩

  34. Deut 21:2, Deut 16:18, Deut 25:7; Zech 13:3 ↩

  35. Prov 29:17 ↩

  36. Prov 19:26, Prov 20:1, Prov 23:19-21, Prov 23:29-35 ↩

  37. Deut 13:10-11, Deut 17:5; Lev 24:16 ↩

  38. Deut 13:5, Deut 13:11, Deut 19:19-20, Deut 22:21, Deut 22:24 ↩

  39. Deut 13:11 ↩

  40. Heb. of the judgment of death, The Hebrews understand this not of putting to death by hanging, but of hanging a man up after he was stoned to death; which was done more ignominiously of some heinous malefactors. We have the examples of Rechab and Baanah, who, for murdering Ish–bosheth, were slain by David's commandment, their hand and feet cut off, and then hanged up. 2Sam 4:12 ↩

  41. 2Sam 21:6, 2Sam 21:9; Luke 23:33; John 19:31-38 ↩

  42. Josh 8:29, Josh 10:26; So in Num 25:4, we read, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads (chief men) of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel." Among the Romans, in after ages, they hanged, or rather fastened to the tree ALIVE; and such was the cruel death of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Deut 19:6, Deut 22:26; 1Sam 26:16; Matt 26:66; Acts 23:29, Acts 25:11, Acts 25:25, Acts 26:31 ↩

  43. Heb. the curse of God, That is, it is the highest degree of reproach that can attach to a man, and proclaims him under the curse of God as much as any external punishment can. They that see him thus hanging between heaven and earth, will conclude him abandoned of both, and unworthy of either. Bp. Patrick observes, that this passage is applied to the death of Christ; not only because he bare our sins and was exposed to shame, as these malefactors were that were accursed of God, but because he was in the evening taken down from the cursed tree and buried (and that by the particular care of the Jews, with an eye to this law, John 19:31), in token, that now the guilt being removed, the law was satisfied, as it was when the malefactors had hanged till sun-set. It demanded no more. Then he, and those that are his, ceased to be a curse. And as the land of Israel was pure and clean when the body was buried, so the church is washed and cleansed by the complete satisfaction which Christ thus made. Deut 7:26; Num 25:4; Josh 7:12; 2Sam 21:6; Rom 9:3; Gal 3:13; 1Cor 16:22; 2Cor 5:21 ↩

  44. Lev 18:25; Num 35:33-34 ↩