CHAP. XXI.
1 The expiation of murder done by an unknowne person: that the Elders of the next citie should kill an heiffer, and wash their hands over it, so clearing them∣selves, and asking mercy of God. 10 The usage of a captive taken to wife. 15 The first-borne is not to be disinherited upon private affection. 18 A stubborne rebellious sonne is by his Parents to be brought forth unto judgement, and stoned to death. 22 The male∣factor must not hang all night on a tree.
IF one be found slaine in the land which [unspec 1] Iehovah thy God giveth unto thee to possesse it, fallen in the field; and it be not knowne who hath smitten him: Then thy [unspec 2] Elders, and thy Iudges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slaine. And it shall [unspec 3] be that the citie which is next unto the slaine 〈◊〉〈◊〉, even the Elders of that citie shall take an heiffer of the herd, which hath not beene wrought with, which hath not drawne in the yoke. And the Elders of that citie shall [unspec 4] bring downe the Heiffer unto a rough val∣ley, which shall not be tilled, nor sowen, and shall strike off the Heiffers necke there in the valley. And the Priests, the sonnes of Levi, [unspec 5] shall come neere; for them Iehovah thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to blesse in the name of Iehovah; and by their mouth shall be every controversie, and eve∣ry stroke. And all the Elders of that citie [unspec 6] that are next unto the slaine man, shall wash their hands over the Heiffer that is beheaded in the valley. And they shall answer, and [unspec 7] say; Our hands have not shed this bloud, and our eyes have not seene it. Make expia∣tion [unspec 8] for thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, O Iehovah; and lay not innocent bloud in the middest of thy people Israel, and the bloud shall be expiated for them. And thou shalt put away innocent bloud [unspec 9] from the middest of thee, when thou shalt doe that which is right in the eyes of Ieho∣vah.
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When thou goest forth to battell against [unspec 10] thine enemies, and Iehovah thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken captive a captivity of them: And thou seest in the captivity a woman of [unspec 11] a beautifull forme, and hast a desire unto her, and wouldest take her unto thee to wise: Then thou shalt bring her home to thy [unspec 12] house, and she shall shave her head, and doe her nailes. And she shall put off the rai∣ment [unspec 13] of her captivity from upon her, and shal remaine in thine house, & shall weep for her father and her mother a moneth of daies; and after that thou shalt goe in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be unto thee to wife. And it shall be, if thou have no de∣light [unspec 14] in her, then thou shalt send her away whither she will; but selling thou shalt not sell her for money: thou shalt not make a gaine to thy selfe of her, because thou hast humbled her.
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and [unspec 15] another hated, and they have borne him sonnes, the beloved, and the hated; and if the first-borne sonne be hers that was hated:
Then it shall be in the day that he maketh [unspec 16] his sonnes to inherit that which he hath, he may not make the sonne of the beloved first-borne, before the sonne of the hated, which is the first-borne. But the first-born, the sonne [unspec 17] of the hated shall he acknowledge, by giving to him a double portion of all that is ••ound his; for he is the beginning of his strength, the right of the first birth-right is his.
If a man have a sonne stubborne and re∣bellious, [unspec 18] which obeyeth not the voice of his father, and the voice of his mother, and they have chastned him, & he will not hearken un∣to them: Then shal his father and his mother [unspec 19] lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the Elders of his citie, and unto the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the Elders [unspec 20] of his citie, This our sonne is stubborne and rebellious, he obeyeth not our voice, he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men [unspec 21] of his citie shall stone him with stones, and hee shall die; and thou shalt put away the evill from the middest of thee, and all Israel shall heare and feare.
And if there be in a man a sinne worthy [unspec 22] of death, and hee be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His carkasse shall not [unspec 23] remaine all night upon the tree; but bury∣ing thou shalt burie him in that day, for hee that is hanged is the curse of God; and thou shalt not defile thy land which Iehovah thy God giveth unto thee for an inheritance.