n J1 21:1–22:8. Persons and property.
K1 22:9,10. Sowing and plowing.
J2 22:11–23:23. Persons.
K2 23:24,25. Vineyards and cornfields.
J3 24:1-18. Persons.
K3 24:19-22. Harvests.
J4 25:1-3. Persons.
K4 25:4. Threshing.
J5 25:5-16. Persons and property.
J1 L1 21:1-3. Persons.
L2 22:1-8-. Property.
L1 w 1-9. Crime. Dead body found slain.
x y1 10-14. Captives. Living Persons.
y2 15-17. Two wives. "
y3 18-21. Rebellious son. "
w 22,23. Crime. Dead body, hanged.
w z 1. The guilt incurred.
a b c 2. Elders and Judges.
d 3-. City next to crime.
e -3,4. Elders of that city.
a b c 5. Priests, the sons of Levi.
d 6. City next to crime.
e 7,8. Elders of that city.
z 9. The guilt put away.1452 B.C.
Deuteronomy 21)
1: If one be found slain in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who has slain him:
2: Then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about 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 an heifer, which has not been wrought with, and which has not drawn in the yoke;
4: And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a rough valley (= ravine, or rough gully), which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall strike off (= behead, or break the neck) the heifer's neck there in the valley:
5: And the priests the sons of Levi (see 17:9) shall come near; for them the Lord your God has chosen to minister to Him, and to bless in the name of the Lord; and by their word shall every controversy and every punishment 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 (= be propitious, or make expiation or atonement), O Lord, to Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, and lay not innocent blood (Fig., put for the guilt which shed it) to Your people of Israel's charge.' And the blood shall assuredly be forgiven them.
9: So shall you put away from the camp (see 13:5) the guilt of innocent blood from among you (= blood-guiltless, blood being put for guilt, see v.8), when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.
10: When you go forth to war against your enemies, and the Lord you God has delivered them into your hands, and you have taken them captive,
11: And see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire unto her, that you would have her to your wife;
12: Then you shall bring her home to you house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
13: And she shall put the clothing of her captivity from off her (= mantle in which she was taken captivity), and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that you shall go in unto her, and be her husband (Heb. Baal, or lord. First occ. of verb, Gen.20:3), and she shall be your wife.
14: And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go to which place she will (= according to her soul); but you shall not sell her at all for money, you shalt not make merchandise of her (Heb. ‘amar. In this sense, only here and 24:7), because you have humbled her.
y2 f 15. Firstborn. Case.
g 16-. Inheritance. "
f -16,17-. Firstborn. Prohibition.
g -17. Inheritance. "15: If a man have two wives (cp. 1 Sam. 1:2. 2 Chron. 24:3), one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:
16: Then it shall be, when (Heb. in the day) he makes his sons to inherit that which he has,
that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:
17: But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn,
by giving him a double portion of all that he has: for he is the beginning of his strength (cp. Gen.49:3); the right of the firstborn is his.
y3 h 18. Evil case.
i 19,20. Prosecution.
i 21-. Penalty.
h -21. Evil put away.,/font>18: If a man have a stubborn (= rebellious) and rebellious (= refractory, unmanageable) son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not listen 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 (i.e. the place of judgment);
20: And they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is rebellious and unmanageable, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.' (cp. Matt.11:1)
21: And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die:
so shall you put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
22: And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and you hang him up (i.e. after putting to death, not to put to death by hanging) on a tree (= timber, i.e. a wooden stake. Cp. Josh. 8:29; 10:26,27. Gal. 3:13):
23: His body shall not remain all night upon the timber, but you shall in any wise bury him that day; {for he that is hanged is accursed of God (cp. Num. 25:4. 2 Sam. 21:6);} that your land (= soil, Heb. 'adamah) be not defiled, which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.