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Tuesday, August 19th, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

Deuteronomy 21:2

Your elders and judges should go to where the body was found, and they should measure how far it is to the nearby cities.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;   Government;   Heifer;   Homicide;   Inquest;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Blood;   Murder;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Sacrifice;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Elder;   Judge;   Priest;   Ruler;   Uncleanness;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Leadership;   Murder;   Priest, Priesthood;   Samuel, First and Second, Theology of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Alms;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Ablution;   Murder;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Blood;   Murder;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ablutions;   Blood;   Court Systems;   Crimes and Punishments;   Elder;   Heifer;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Clean and Unclean;   Crimes and Punishments;   Deuteronomy;   Elder;   Justice;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Elders;   Heifer;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Blood;   Elder;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Murder;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Heifer;   Heifer, Red;   Homicide;   Joshua (2);   Prayer;   Salvation;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Ablution;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Abrogation of Laws;   Charity and Charitable Institutions;   Elder;   Eleazar B. Dinai;   Government;   Homicide;   Judge;   Nashim;   Saul;   Soá¹­ah;   Teḥina, Abba;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
your elders and judges are to come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby cities.
Hebrew Names Version
then your Zakenim and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are round about him who is slain:
King James Version
Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:
Lexham English Bible
then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure the distance to the cities that are around the slain one.
English Standard Version
then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities.
New English Translation
your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse.
Amplified Bible
then your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the dead person.
New American Standard Bible
then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the one who was killed.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then thine Elders & thy Iudges shal come forth, and measure vnto the cities that are round about him that is slayne.
Legacy Standard Bible
then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one.
Contemporary English Version
The judges and other leaders from the towns around there must find out what town is the closest to where the body was found.
Complete Jewish Bible
then your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance between it and the surrounding towns.
Darby Translation
then thine elders and thy judges shall go forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain;
Easy-to-Read Version
Your leaders and judges must come out and measure the distance to the towns around the dead body.
George Lamsa Translation
Then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are round about him that is slain;
Good News Translation
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.
Literal Translation
then your elders and your judges shall come out. And they shall measure to the cities which are around the one slain.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
then shal thy Elders & iudges go forth, and meet from the slayne vnto the cities that lye rounde aboute.
American Standard Version
then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:
Bible in Basic English
Then your responsible men and your judges are to come out, and give orders for the distance from the dead body to the towns round about it to be measured;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then thine elders and thy iudges shal come foorth, and measure vnto the cities that are rounde about hym that is slayne:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain.
King James Version (1611)
Then thy Elders and thy Iudges shall come forth, and they shall measure vnto the cities which are round about him that is slaine.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
thine elders and thy judges shall come forth, and shall measure the distances of the cities round about the slain man:
English Revised Version
then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:
Berean Standard Bible
your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
the grettere men in birthe and thi iugis schulen go out, and schulen mete fro the place of the careyn the spaces of alle citees `bi cumpas;
Young's Literal Translation
then have thine elders and thy judges gone out and measured unto the cities which [are] round about the slain one,
Update Bible Version
then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are round about him that is slain:
Webster's Bible Translation
Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which [are] around him that is slain:
World English Bible
then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are round about him who is slain:
New King James Version
then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities.
New Living Translation
In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns.
New Life Bible
then your leaders and judges will go out and see how far it is to the cities that are around the dead man.
New Revised Standard
then your elders and your judges shall come out to measure the distances to the towns that are near the body.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
then shall thine elders and thy judges go forth, - and measure unto the cities that are round about the slain;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thy ancients and judges shall go out, and shall measure from the place where the body lieth the distance of every city round about:
Revised Standard Version
then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are around him that is slain;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one.

Contextual Overview

1 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. 2 Your elders and judges should go to where the body was found, and they should measure how far it is to the nearby cities. 3 The elders of the city nearest the body must take a young cow that has never worked or worn a yoke, 4 and they must lead her down to a valley that has never been plowed or planted, with a stream flowing through it. There they must break the young cow's neck. 5 The priests, the sons of Levi, should come forward, because they have been chosen by the Lord your God to serve him and to give blessings in the Lord 's name. They are the ones who decide cases of quarreling and attacks. 6 Then all the elders of the city nearest the murdered person should wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken in the valley. 7 They should declare: "We did not kill this person, and we did not see it happen. 8 Lord , remove this sin from your people Israel, whom you have saved. Don't blame your people, the Israelites, for the murder of this innocent person." And so the murder will be paid for. 9 Then you will have removed from yourselves the guilt of murdering an innocent person, because you will be doing what the Lord says is right.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Deuteronomy 16:18, Deuteronomy 16:19, Romans 13:3, Romans 13:4

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 21:19 - and bring

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
God said, "No, Sarah your wife will have a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will make my agreement with him to be an agreement that continues forever with all his descendants.
Genesis 17:21
But I will make my agreement with Isaac, the son whom Sarah will have at this same time next year."
Genesis 18:10
Then the Lord said, "I will certainly return to you about this time a year from now. At that time your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent which was behind him.
Genesis 18:14
Is anything too hard for the Lord ? No! I will return to you at the right time a year from now, and Sarah will have a son."
Genesis 21:16
Then she went away a short distance and sat down. She thought, "My son will die, and I cannot watch this happen." She sat there and began to cry.
Genesis 21:17
God heard the boy crying, and God's angel called to Hagar from heaven. He said, "What is wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid! God has heard the boy crying there.
Genesis 21:24
And Abraham said, "I promise."
Genesis 21:25
Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about Abimelech's servants who had seized a well of water.
Luke 1:36
Now Elizabeth, your relative, is also pregnant with a son though she is very old. Everyone thought she could not have a baby, but she has been pregnant for six months.
Acts 7:8
God made an agreement with Abraham, the sign of which was circumcision. And so when Abraham had his son Isaac, Abraham circumcised him when he was eight days old. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob did the same for his sons, the twelve ancestors of our people.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth,.... From the city or cities near to which the murder was committed, to make inquiry about it, and expiation for it; so Aben Ezra interprets it of the elders of the cities near, but others understand it of the elders of the great sanhedrim at Jerusalem; so the Targum of Jonathan,

"then shall go out from the great sanhedrim two of thy wise men, and three of thy judges;''

and more expressly the Misnah l,

"three go out from the great sanhedrim in Jerusalem;''

R. Judah says five,

"it is said "thy elders" two, and "thy judges" two,''

and there is no sanhedrim or court of judicature equal (or even), therefore they add to them one more:

and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain; that is, from the place where the slain lies, as Jarchi rightly interprets it; on all sides of it, from the four corner's, as the Targum of Jonathan, the cities round about the slain. Maimonides m says, they do not behead the heifer for, nor measure, but to a city in which there is a sanhedrim: if it is found between two cities (that is, at an equal distance), both bring two heifers (Maimonides n says they bring one between them, which is most reasonable); but the city of Jerusalem does not bring an heifer to be beheaded: the reason is, because it was not divided to the tribes o. This measuring, one would think, should be only necessary when it was not certain which was the nearest city; and yet Maimonides p says, even when it was found on the side of a city, which was certainly known to be nearest, they measured; the command, he observes, is to measure.

l Sotah, c. 9. sect. 1. m Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 9. sect. 4. n Ib. sect. 8. o Maimon Hilchot Rotzeachs, c. 9. sect. 8. p lb. c. 9. sect. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The elders represented the citizens at large, the judges the magistracy: priests Deuteronomy 21:5 from the nearest priestly town, were likewise to be at hand. Thus, all classes would be represented at the purging away of that blood-guiltiness which until removed attached to the whole community.


 
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