1 If a person is found slain in the land which the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheicha, Covenant Giver} gives you to possess {lerishtah: as a permanent inheritance}, lying fallen in the field, and it is not known who struck him.
2 Then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities {he’arim: administrative jurisdictions} surrounding the slain {hechalal: person fatally struck}.
3 And it shall be that the city nearest to the slain shall have the elders of that city take a heifer of cattle which has not been worked {ubad: subjected to labor}, which has not been yoked {ol: wooden harness for draft beasts}.
4 Then the elders of that city shall bring the heifer {eglah: young cow} down to a valley with running water {eitan: enduring flow}, a place that has neither been tilled nor sown; and there in the valley they shall break the heifer’s neck.
5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Sovereign Chooser} has chosen them to serve {lesharto: sacred ministry} Him and to speak blessing in the name of the LORD. Every dispute and every assault shall be decided according to their word.
6 And all the elders of that city, those nearest to the slain one, shall wash their hands {yedeihem: covenant action} over the heifer whose neck was broken {haarufah: ritual execution} in the valley.
7 And they shall answer and say, “We did not spill this blood {dam: innocent blood}, and we did not witness {ra'u: witnessed} it.”
8 Atone for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, O LORD {YHWH, Redeemer}, and do not place innocent blood {dam: life-force} in the midst of Your people Israel. Then the blood shall be atoned for them.
9 So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, because you will do what is right {yashar: morally upright} in the eyes of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}.
10 When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Mighty Deliverer} gives them into your hand {yad: authority}, and you capture their captives.
11 And when you see among the captives a woman of beautiful form, and you desire her {chashakta: intense longing}, then you may take her for yourself as a wife.
12 And you shall bring her into your house {beytekha: dwelling space}, and she shall shave {gilchah: ritual humility} her head, and she shall trim her nails.
13 Then she shall take off the garment of her captivity {simlat: status as captive} and remain in your house; she shall weep for her father and her mother a full month {yerach: period of mourning}. After that, you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be to you as a wife.
14 And it shall be, if you do not delight in her, you shall send her away {shillakhta: decisive release} to herself, and you shall not sell her for silver, you shall not treat her as a slave {titammer: treat as a slave}, because you have afflicted her.
15 If a man has two wives—one beloved {ahuvah: dearly loved} and the other unloved {s’nuah: not favored}—and both bear him sons, but the firstborn son belongs to the unloved wife,
16 And it shall be on the day that he causes his sons to inherit what belongs to him, he shall not be able to treat as firstborn the son of his beloved {ahuvah: favored spouse} wife in preference to the son of his unloved {s’nuah: less favored} wife, the firstborn.
17 But he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved wife, by giving him a double portion {pi: measured share} of all that is found to him, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right {mishpat: legal entitlement} of the firstborn.
18 If a man has a son who is stubborn {sorer: resistant to authority} and rebellious, who does not listen to the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and when they discipline {yisru: corrective instruction} him, he still does not listen to them.
19 Then his father and his mother shall seize him and bring him out to the elders {ziknei: civic leaders} of his city and to the gate {sha’ar: official meeting place} of his place.
20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, “This son of ours is stubborn {sorer: obstinate defier} and rebellious. He does not obey our voice {koleinu: parental command}. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”
21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones so that he dies; so you shall remove the evil {hara: moral corruption} from among you. Then all Israel will hear and will fear {yirʾu: deep reverential fear}.
22 And when there is in a man a sin worthy of the judgment {mishpat-mavet: death penalty} of death, and he has been put to death, and you hang {vetalita: public display} him on a tree.
23 You shall not leave his corpse overnight upon the tree, but you must surely bury him that same day, for the one who is hanged is cursed by God{Elohim, Supreme Judge}; and you shall not defile your land{adamah: promised territory} which the LORD your God{YHWH Eloheicha, Covenant Land-Giver} is giving you as an inheritance.