12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, 1 has given you to possess. 2
21:1 If a homicide victim 3 should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, 4 and no one knows who killed 5 him, 21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. 6 21:3 Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse 7 must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke – 21:4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, 8 to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. 9 There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck. 21:5 Then the Levitical priests 10 will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, 11 and to decide 12 every judicial verdict 13 ) 21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse 14 must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 15 21:7 Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we 16 witnessed the crime. 17 21:8 Do not blame 18 your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” 19 Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. 21:9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before 20 the Lord.
21:10 When you go out to do battle with your enemies and the Lord your God allows you to prevail 21 and you take prisoners, 21:11 if you should see among them 22 an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife, 21:12 you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, 23 trim her nails, 21:13 discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, 24 and stay 25 in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations 26 with her and become her husband and she your wife. 21:14 If you are not pleased with her, then you must let her go 27 where she pleases. You cannot in any case sell 28 her; 29 you must not take advantage of 30 her, since you have already humiliated 31 her.
21:15 Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, 32 and they both 33 bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife. 21:16 In the day he divides his inheritance 34 he must not appoint as firstborn the son of the favorite wife in place of the other 35 wife’s son who is actually the firstborn. 21:17 Rather, he must acknowledge the son of the less loved 36 wife as firstborn and give him the double portion 37 of all he has, for that son is the beginning of his father’s procreative power 38 – to him should go the right of the firstborn.
21:18 If a person has a stubborn, rebellious son who pays no attention to his father or mother, and they discipline him to no avail, 39 21:19 his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city. 21:20 They must declare to the elders 40 of his city, “Our son is stubborn and rebellious and pays no attention to what we say – he is a glutton and drunkard.” 21:21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. In this way you will purge out 41 wickedness from among you, and all Israel 42 will hear about it and be afraid.
21:22 If a person commits a sin punishable by death and is executed, and you hang the corpse 43 on a tree, 21:23 his body must not remain all night on the tree; instead you must make certain you bury 44 him that same day, for the one who is left exposed 45 on a tree is cursed by God. 46 You must not defile your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.