Deuteronomy 21:2-6

21:2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse. ¹  21:3 Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse ²  must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke – 21:4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, ³  to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. ⁴  There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck. 21:5 Then the Levitical priests ⁵  will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, ⁶  and to decide ⁷  every judicial verdict ⁸ ) 21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse ⁹  must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”

² tn Heb “slain [one].”

³ tn The combination “a wadi with flowing water” is necessary because a wadi (נַחַל, nakhal) was ordinarily a dry stream or riverbed. For this ritual, however, a perennial stream must be chosen so that there would be fresh, rushing water.

⁴ sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.

⁴ tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”

⁵ tn Heb “in the name of the Lord.” See note on Deut 10:8. The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁶ tn Heb “by their mouth.”

⁷ tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”

⁵ tn Heb “slain [one].”

⁶ tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.