Deuteronomy 21:3-6

21:3 Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse ¹  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, ²  to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. ³  There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck. 21:5 Then the Levitical priests ⁴  will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, ⁵  and to decide ⁶  every judicial verdict ⁷ ) 21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse ⁸  must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “slain [one].”

² 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.

³ sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.

³ tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Heb “by their mouth.”

⁶ tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”

⁴ tn Heb “slain [one].”

⁵ tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.