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If one be found slain on the ground which Jehovah thy God gives to thee to possess it, fallen in the field, and it be not known who smote him,
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then thine elders and thy judges shall come out, and they shall measure to the cities which are all around him who is··slain.
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And it shall be, that the city near to the slain man, even the elders of that◦ city shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not served, and which has not drawn in the yoke;
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and the elders of that◦ city shall bring··down the heifer to▵ a rough gully, which is neither tilled nor sown, and shall chop··the··neck of the heifer there in the gully;
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and the priests the sons of Levi shall approach; for them Jehovah thy God has chosen to minister to Him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah; and by their mouth shall every controversy and every plague be tried;
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and all the elders of that◦ city, that are near to the slain man, shall bathe their hands over the heifer that has its neck··chopped in the gully;
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and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
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Make··atonement, O Jehovah, for Thy people Israel, whom Thou hast redeemed◦, and put◦ not innocent blood in the midst◦ of Thy people Israel. And the blood shall be atoned for them.
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And thou shalt sweep··away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do what is upright in the eyes of Jehovah.
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When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and Jehovah thy God has delivered them into thy hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
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and seest among◦ the captives a woman beautiful in form◦, and delight▵ in her, and thou wouldest take her to thee for a wife;
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then thou shalt bring her to▵ the midst of thy house; and she shall shave her head, and clip◦* her nails◦;
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and she shall remove the raiment of her captivity from on her, and shall dwell in thy house, and weep for her father and her mother a month◦ of days; and afterwards thou shalt thus go··in to▵ her, and be· her ·husband, and she shall be a wife to thee.
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And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt send· her ·out according to her soul; but selling thou shalt· not ·sell her for silver, thou shalt not make··money off her, because thou hast afflicted her.
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When◦ a man◦ has◦ two wives, one loved, and one hated, and they have given··birth to sons for him, both the loved and the hated; and the firstborn son be hers that was hated;
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then it shall be, in the day he makes his sons to inherit what is his, that he may not make··firstborn the son of the loved before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn.
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For he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him two portions* of all that is··found for him; for he is the beginning of his vigor; the judgment of the firstborn is his◦.
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If▫ a man◦ have◦ a defiant and rebellious son, who will not◦ hearken to the voice of his father, and to the voice of his mother, and they chasten him, and he will not hearken to▵ them;
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then his father and his mother shall lay··hold of him, and bring· him ·out to▵ the elders of his city, and to▵ the gate of his place;
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and they shall say to the elders of his city, This our son is··defiant and rebellious, he will not◦ obey our voice; he is··worthless and inebriated.
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And all the men◦ of his city shall stone▵ him with stones, and he shall die; and thou shalt sweep··away the evil from among thee; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
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And if▫ there is in a man◦ a sin worthy of the judgment of death, and he be put··to··death, then thou shalt hang him on a tree;
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his carcass shall not pass··the··night upon the tree, for burying thou shalt bury him in that◦ day, for he that is hanged is vile to God, that thy ground be not defiled, which Jehovah thy God gives to thee for an inheritance.
