Deuteronomy 21:1

Good News Translation

"Suppose someone is found murdered in a field in the land that the Lord your God is going to give you, and you do not know who killed him.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“If a murder victim is found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,

Hebrew Names Version
If one be found slain in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it isn't known who has struck him;

King James Version
If one 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:

Lexham English Bible
"If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it and is lying in the field, and it is not known who killed him,

English Standard Version
"If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him,

New Century Version
Suppose someone is found murdered, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own, and no one knows who killed the person.

New English Translation
If a homicide victim should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, and no one knows who killed him,

Amplified Bible
"If someone is found slain, lying in the field, in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has killed him,

New American Standard Bible
"If a person who has been killed by someone is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who struck him,

Geneva Bible (1587)
If one be founde slaine in the lande, which the Lord thy God giueth thee to possesse it, lying in the field, & it is not knowe who hath slaine him,

Legacy Standard Bible
"If a slain person is found fallen in the open country in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him,

Contemporary English Version
Moses said to Israel: Suppose the body of a murder victim is found in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, and no one knows who the murderer is.

Complete Jewish Bible
"If, in the land Adonai your God is giving you to possess, a murder victim is found lying in the countryside; and the perpetrator of the murder is not known;

Darby Translation
If one be found slain in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess, lying in the field, [and] it be not known who hath smitten him,

Easy-to-Read Version
"In the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you might find a dead body in a field, but no one knows who killed that person.

George Lamsa Translation
IF a person is found slain in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has slain him;

Literal Translation
If one is found slain in the land which Jehovah your God is giving to you, to possess it, lying in the field, and it is not known who has struck him;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Whan there is one slayne founde in ye londe which ye LORDE yi God shall geue ye to possesse it, & lyeth in ye felde, & it is not knowne who hath slaine him,

American Standard Version
If one be found slain in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath smitten him;

Bible in Basic English
If, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you come across the dead body of a man in the open country, and you have no idea who has put him to death:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If one be founde slayne in the lande which the Lord thy God geueth thee to possesse it, and lyeth in the fielde, and it is not knowen who hath slayne hym:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
If one 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 smitten him;

King James Version (1611)
If one bee found slaine in the lande, which the Lord thy God giueth thee to possesse it, lying in the fielde, and it bee not knowen who hath slaine him:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And if one be found slain with the sword in the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit, having fallen in the field, and they do not know who has smitten him;

English Revised Version
If one 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 smitten him:

Berean Standard Bible
If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whanne the careyn of a man slayn is foundun in the lond which thi Lord God schal yyue to thee, and `the gilti of sleyng is vnknowun,

Young's Literal Translation
`When one is found slain on the ground which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee to possess it -- fallen in a field -- it is not known who hath smitten him,

Update Bible Version
If one is found slain in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it is not known who has smitten him;

Webster's Bible Translation
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:

World English Bible
If one be found slain in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess it, lying in the field, and it isn't known who has struck him;

New King James Version
"If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,

New Living Translation
"When you are in the land the Lord your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don't know who committed the murder.

New Life Bible
"If a person has been killed and is found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own and it is not known who killed him,

New Revised Standard
If, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, a body is found lying in open country, and it is not known who struck the person down,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
When there shall be found one slain on the soil which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee to possess, lying prostrate in the field, - it not being known who smote him,

Douay-Rheims Bible
When there shall be found in the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee, the corpse of a man slain, and it is not known who is guilty of the murder,

Revised Standard Version
"If in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, any one is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him,

THE MESSAGE
If a dead body is found on the ground, this ground that God , your God, has given you, lying out in the open, and no one knows who killed him, your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the body to the nearest cities. The leaders and judges of the city that is nearest the corpse will then take a heifer that has never been used for work, never had a yoke on it. The leaders will take the heifer to a valley with a stream, a valley that has never been plowed or planted, and there break the neck of the heifer. The Levitical priests will then step up. God has chosen them to serve him in these matters by settling legal disputes and violent crimes and by pronouncing blessings in God 's name. Finally, all the leaders of that town that is nearest the body will wash their hands over the heifer that had its neck broken at the stream and say, "We didn't kill this man and we didn't see who did it. Purify your people Israel whom you redeemed, O God . Clear your people Israel from any guilt in this murder." That will clear them from any responsibility in the murder. By following these procedures you will have absolved yourselves of any part in the murder because you will have done what is right in God 's sight. When you go to war against your enemies and God , your God, gives you victory and you take prisoners, and then you notice among the prisoners of war a good-looking woman whom you find attractive and would like to marry, this is what you do: Take her home; have her trim her hair, cut her nails, and discard the clothes she was wearing when captured. She is then to stay in your home for a full month, mourning her father and mother. Then you may go to bed with her as husband and wife. If it turns out you don't like her, you must let her go and live wherever she wishes. But you can't sell her or use her as a slave since you've humiliated her. When a man has two wives, one loved and the other hated, and they both give him sons, but the firstborn is from the hated wife, at the time he divides the inheritance with his sons he must not treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, cutting out the son of the hated wife, who is the actual firstborn. No, he must acknowledge the inheritance rights of the real firstborn, the son of the hated wife, by giving him a double share of the inheritance: that son is the first proof of his virility; the rights of the firstborn belong to him. When a man has a stubborn son, a real rebel who won't do a thing his mother and father tell him, and even though they discipline him he still won't obey, his father and mother shall forcibly bring him before the leaders at the city gate and say to the city fathers, "This son of ours is a stubborn rebel; he won't listen to a thing we say. He's a glutton and a drunk." Then all the men of the town are to throw rocks at him until he's dead. You will have purged the evil pollution from among you. All Israel will hear what's happened and be in awe. When a man has committed a capital crime, been given the death sentence, executed and hung from a tree, don't leave his dead body hanging overnight from the tree. Give him a decent burial that same day so that you don't desecrate your God -given land—a hanged man is an insult to God.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him,

Contextual Overview

¹ "Suppose someone is found murdered in a field in the land that the Lord your God is going to give you, and you do not know who killed him. ² Your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the place where the body was found to each of the nearby towns. ³ Then the leaders of the town nearest to where the body was found are to select a young cow that has never been used for work. ⁴ They are to take it down to a spot near a stream that never runs dry and where the ground has never been plowed or planted, and there they are to break its neck. ⁵ The levitical priests are to go there also, because they are to decide every legal case involving violence. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name. ⁶ Then all the leaders from the town nearest the place where the murdered person was found are to wash their hands over the cow ⁷ and say, ‘We did not murder this one, and we do not know who did it. ⁸ Lord , forgive your people Israel, whom you rescued from Egypt. Forgive us and do not hold us responsible for the murder of an innocent person.' ⁹ And so, by doing what the Lord requires, you will not be held responsible for the murder.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Psalms 5:6, Psalms 9:12, Proverbs 28:17, Isaiah 26:21, Acts 28:4

Reciprocal: Genesis 9:5 - and at Exodus 21:29 - his owner also Numbers 35:33 - it defileth 2 Samuel 3:28 - guiltless 2 Samuel 14:9 - and the king 2 Samuel 21:9 - before the Lord 1 Kings 21:8 - the elders

Cross-References

Genesis 17:16
I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become the mother of nations, and there will be kings among her descendants."

Genesis 17:19
But God said, "No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son and you will name him Isaac. I will keep my covenant with him and with his descendants forever. It is an everlasting covenant.

Genesis 17:21
But I will keep my covenant with your son Isaac, who will be born to Sarah about this time next year."

Genesis 18:10
One of them said, "Nine months from now I will come back, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was behind him, at the door of the tent, listening.

Genesis 18:14
Is anything too hard for the Lord ? As I said, nine months from now I will return, and Sarah will have a son."

Genesis 21:17
God heard the boy crying, and from heaven the angel of God spoke to Hagar, "What are you troubled about, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy crying.

Genesis 21:20
God was with the boy as he grew up; he lived in the wilderness of Paran and became a skillful hunter.

Genesis 50:24
He said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Exodus 3:16
Go and gather the leaders of Israel together and tell them that I, the Lord , the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to you. Tell them that I have come to them and have seen what the Egyptians are doing to them.

Exodus 4:31
They believed, and when they heard that the Lord had come to them and had seen how they were being treated cruelly, they bowed down and worshiped.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If one be found slain,.... After public war with an enemy, Moses proceeds to speak of a private quarrel and fight of one man with another, in which one is slain, as Aben Ezra observes:

in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it; where murders might be committed more secretly, and remain undiscovered, when they came to live in separate cities, towns, and villages, with fields adjacent to them, than now encamped together:

lying in the field; where the quarrel begun, and where the fight was fought: or, however, where the murderer met with his enemy, and slew him, and left him; it being common for duels to be fought, and murders committed in a field; the first murder in the world was committed in such a place, Genesis 4:8. The Targum of Jonathan is,

"not hidden under an heap, not hanging on a tree, nor swimming on the face of the waters;''

which same things are observed in the Misnah i, and gathered from some words in the text:

in the land, and so not under a heap;

lying, and so not hanging;

in the field, and so not swimming on the water:

and it be not known who hath slain him; the parties being alone, and no witnesses of the fact, at least that appear; for, if it was known, the heifer was not beheaded, later mentioned k; and one witness in this case was sufficient, and even one that was not otherwise admitted.

i Sotah, c. 9. sect. 2. k Maimon. Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 9. sect. 11, 12.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XXI

If a man be found slain in a field, and the cause of his death

be unknown, the murder shall be expiated by the sacrifice of a

heifer in an uncultivated valley, 1-4.

The rites to be used on the occasion, 5-9.

The ordinance concerning marriage with a captive, 10-14.

The law relative to the children of the hated and beloved wives:

if the son of the hated wife should be the first-born he shall

not be disinherited by the son of the beloved wife, but shall

have a double portion of all his father's goods, 15-18.

The law concerning the stubborn and rebellious son, who, when

convicted, is to be stoned to death, 19-21.

Of the person who is to be hanged, 22.

His body shall not be left on the tree all night; every one that

is hanged on a tree is accursed of God, 23.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXI