Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, October 7th, 2025
the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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Read the Bible

The NET Bible®

Deuteronomy 21:7

Then they must proclaim, "Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we witnessed the crime.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

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

Dictionaries:

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

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gesture;   Heifer;   Heifer, Red;   Homicide;   Prayer;   Salvation;   Shed;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Ablution;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Abrogation of Laws;   Charity and Charitable Institutions;   Eleazar B. Dinai;   Homicide;   Judge;   Nashim;   Police Laws;   Saul;   Soá¹­ah;   Teḥina, Abba;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They will declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it.
Hebrew Names Version
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
King James Version
And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Lexham English Bible
And they shall declare, and they shall say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see what was done.
English Standard Version
and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed.
New Century Version
They should declare: "We did not kill this person, and we did not see it happen.
Amplified Bible
and they shall respond, and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
New American Standard Bible
and they shall respond and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see who did.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And shal testifie, and say, Our handes haue not shed this blood, neither haue our eies seene it.
Legacy Standard Bible
and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
Contemporary English Version
and say, "We had no part in this murder, and we don't know who did it.
Complete Jewish Bible
(Maftir) Then they are to speak up and say, ‘This blood was not shed by our hands, nor have we seen who did it.
Darby Translation
and shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Easy-to-Read Version
These leaders must say, ‘We did not kill this person, and we did not see it happen.
George Lamsa Translation
And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen the victim.
Good News Translation
and say, ‘We did not murder this one, and we do not know who did it.
Literal Translation
And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and shal answere and saie: Oure hades haue not shed this bloude, nether haue oure eyes sene it.
American Standard Version
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Bible in Basic English
Will say, This death is not the work of our hands and our eyes have not seen it.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And shall aunswere, and say: Our handes haue not shed this blood, neither haue our eyes seene it.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they shall speak and say: 'Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
King James Version (1611)
And they shall answere, and say, Our hands haue not shedde this blood, neither haue our eyes seene it.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it.
English Revised Version
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Berean Standard Bible
and they shall declare, "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and thei schulen seie, Oure hondis schedden not out this blood, nether oure iyen sien.
Young's Literal Translation
and they have answered and said, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen --
Update Bible Version
and they shall answer and say, Our hands haven't shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Webster's Bible Translation
And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen [it].
World English Bible
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
New King James Version
Then they shall answer and say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.
New Living Translation
Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person's blood, nor did we see it happen.
New Life Bible
Then they will say, ‘Our hands have not killed him. Our eyes have not seen it.
New Revised Standard
and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to it.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and shall respond, and say, - Our hands, shed not this blood, neither did, our eyes, see the deed .
Douay-Rheims Bible
And shall say: Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
Revised Standard Version
and they shall testify, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, neither did our eyes see it shed.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
and they shall answer and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

Contextual Overview

1 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, 2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. 3 Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked—that has never pulled with the yoke— 4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. There at the wadi they are to break the heifer's neck. 5 Then the Levitical priests will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, and to decide every judicial verdict) 6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 7 Then they must proclaim, "Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we witnessed the crime. 8 Do not blame your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord , and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person." Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. 9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before the Lord .

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Numbers 5:19-28, 2 Samuel 16:8, Job 21:21-23, Job 21:31-34, Psalms 7:3, Psalms 7:4

Reciprocal: Matthew 5:21 - and Matthew 23:35 - upon Matthew 27:24 - and washed

Cross-References

Genesis 21:11
Sarah's demand displeased Abraham greatly because Ishmael was his son.
Genesis 21:12
But God said to Abraham, "Do not be upset about the boy or your slave wife. Do all that Sarah is telling you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted.
Genesis 21:32
So they made a treaty at Beer Sheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, returned to the land of the Philistines.
Genesis 21:34
So Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for quite some time.
Numbers 23:23
For there is no spell against Jacob, nor is there any divination against Israel. At this time it must be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘Look at what God has done!'
Psalms 86:8
None can compare to you among the gods, O Lord! Your exploits are incomparable!
Psalms 86:10
For you are great and do amazing things. You alone are God.
Isaiah 49:21
Then you will think to yourself, ‘Who bore these children for me? I was bereaved and barren, dismissed and divorced. Who raised these children? Look, I was left all alone; where did these children come from?'"
Isaiah 66:8
Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen this? Can a country be brought forth in one day? Can a nation be born in a single moment? Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!
Ephesians 3:10
The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they shall answer and say,.... The elders of the city, at the time of the washing of their hands:

our hands have not shed this blood; have been no ways concerned in it, nor accessory to it: the Targum of Jonathan is,

"it is manifest before the Lord that he did not come into our hands, nor did we dismiss him, that has shed this blood;''

which is more fully explained in the Misnah y; for had they been aware of him, or had any suspicion of him or his design, they would have detained him, or at least would not have suffered him to have departed alone:

neither have our eyes seen; it, or him; so the Targum of Jerusalem,

"our eyes have not seen him that hath shed this blood;''

by which expression is meant, that they had no manner of knowledge of the murderer, nor of any circumstance that could lead them to suspect or conclude who he was.

y Ut supra, (Sotah. c. 9.) sect. 6.


 
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