Atonement for an Unsolved Murder
1If someone 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 the killer was, 2your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. 3Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke 4and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. 5The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. 6Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. 8Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for, 9and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
Marrying a Captive Woman
10When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, 11if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. 12Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails 13and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.
The Right of the Firstborn
15If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, 16when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. 17He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.
A Rebellious Son
18If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
Various Laws
22If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, 23you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
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町の外での殺人
1主の与えてくださった約束の地で殺人事件があり、被害者は町の外で発見され、現場を目撃した者がいない場合は次のようにしなさい。 2まず、長老と裁判官が、死体から最も近い町はどこか調べます。 3どこかわかったら、その町の長老が、まだ農作業に使われたことのない雌の子牛を引いて、 4渓流のある開墾されていない谷間へ行き、そこで子牛の首を折ります。 5それから祭司たちが進み出ます。主は、聖所での仕事や人々を祝福することばかりでなく、争いごとや傷害事件が起きたとき、判断を下すためにも祭司を選ばれたのです。 6そこで、町の長老たちは子牛の上で手を洗いきよめ証言します。 7『被害者に手をかけたのは私たちではありません。私たちが全く知らないうちに事件は起きたのです。 8主よ、あなたが買い取られた民イスラエルを、どうぞお赦しください。私たちに、罪のない者を殺した罪を負わせないでください。』 9このように、主が正しいとみなされる方法で罪悪を取り除きなさい。
捕虜の娘との結婚
10主が敵をあなたの手に渡され、戦いに勝ち、捕虜を連れて引き揚げるとき、 11その中に美しい娘がいて妻にしたいと思ったなら、 12家へ連れ帰りなさい。娘は髪をそり、つめを切り、 13すっかり着替えをし、捕虜になった時に身に着けていた物を全部はずして、あなたの家で、自分の両親のために一か月の間、喪に服します。そのあとで結婚しなさい。 14彼女を好きでなくなったら、自由の身にして去らせなさい。彼女を辱めたのですから、売り払ったり、奴隷のように扱ったりしてはいけません。
長男の権利
15妻が二人あり、どちらにも子どもがある場合、長男の母親である妻は嫌いで、 16次男の母親である妻のほうを愛しているからといって、次男に長男としての財産を与えることはできません。 17嫌われている母親の子でも、父親には初めての子であり、長男の権利を持っているのだから、兄に弟の二倍の財産を与えなければなりません。
反抗的な息子
18いくら懲らしめても親の言うことを聞かない、強情で反抗的な息子は、 19町の長老のところへ連れて行きなさい。 20『息子は強情っ張りのうえに反抗的で、とても手に負えません。親の言うことなどそっちのけで、大酒ばかり飲んで、遊び暮らしています』と訴えるのです。 21そのあと、町の者が息子に石を投げつけて殺します。二度と若者たちがそんな親不孝をしないように見せしめとするためです。
木にかけられた者
22人が死刑に当たる罪を犯し、殺され、木にかけられる場合は、 23次の日までそのままにしてはいけません。その日のうちに埋葬しなさい。木にかけられた者は、神にのろわれた者だからです。あなたの神、主に与えられた地を汚してはいけません。
