Deuteronomy 21:1

Laws Concerning Unsolved Murder

21:1 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,

Deuteronomy 22:25

22:25 But if the man came across the engaged woman in the field and overpowered her and raped her, then only the rapist must die.

Deuteronomy 24:7

24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, and regards him as mere property and sells him, that kidnapper must die. In this way you will purge 10  evil from among you.


tn Heb “slain [one].” The term חָלָל (khalal) suggests something other than a natural death (cf. Num 19:16; 23:24; Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15; 30:24; 31:17-18).

tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

tn Heb “struck,” but in context a fatal blow is meant; cf. NLT “who committed the murder.”

tn Heb “found,” also in vv. 27, 28.

tn Heb “lay with” here refers to a forced sexual relationship, as the accompanying verb “seized” (חָזַק, khazaq) makes clear.

tn Heb “the man who lay with her, only him.”

tn Heb “from his brothers, from the sons of Israel.” The terms “brothers” and “sons of Israel” are in apposition; the second defines the first more specifically.

tn Or “and enslaves him.”

tn Heb “that thief.”

10 tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.