¹ If one shall 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 Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him that is slain:

³ And it shall be that the city which is next to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a 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 to a rough valley, which is neither tilled nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley;

⁵ And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near (for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the LORD) and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried;

⁶ And all the elders of that city that are next to the slain man, shall wash their hands 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.

⁸ Be merciful, O LORD, to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood to the charge of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them.

⁹ So shalt thou remove the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁰ When thou goest forth to war against thy enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thy hands, and thou hast taken them captive,

¹¹ And thou seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire to her, that thou wouldest have her for thy wife:

¹² Then thou shalt bring her home to thy house, and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails:

¹³ And she shall put off from her the raiment of her captivity, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that, thou shalt go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.

¹⁴ And it shall be, if thou shalt have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money; thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

¹⁵ If a man shall have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the first-born 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 prefer the son of the beloved first-born, before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first-born:

¹⁷ But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the first-born, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born is his.

¹⁸ If a man shall have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not hearken to them:

¹⁹ Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place;

²⁰ And they shall say to the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

²¹ And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he may die: so shalt thou remove evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

²² And if a man shall have committed a sin worthy of death, and he must be put to death, and thou shalt hang him on a tree:

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 God;) that thy land may not be defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

¹ Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.

² And he had brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, Shephatiah: all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.

³ And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and of gold, and of precious things, with fortified cities in Judah: but the kingdom he gave to Jehoram; because he was the first-born.

⁴ Now when Jehoram had risen to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel.

⁵ Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

⁶ And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab for a wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD.

⁷ Yet the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.

⁸ In his days the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah, and made themselves a king.

⁹ Then Jehoram went forth with his princes, and all his chariots with him: and he rose by night, and smote the Edomites who encompassed him, and the captains of the chariots.

¹⁰ So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. The same time also did Libnah revolt from under his hand; because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers.

¹¹ Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah to do the same.

¹² And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

¹³ But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit idolatry, like the idolatries of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, who were better than thyself:

¹⁴ Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods:

¹⁵ And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.

¹⁶ Moreover, the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Cushites.

¹⁷ And they came up into Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was not a son left to him, save Jehoahaz the youngest of his sons.

¹⁸ And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.

¹⁹ And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of severe diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.

²⁰ Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem, eight years, and departed without being desired: yet they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchers of the kings.