Deuteronomy 21:2-8

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  21:7 Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we ¹¹  witnessed the crime. ¹²  21:8 Do not blame ¹³  your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” ¹⁴  Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed.

[21:2]  ¹ tn Heb “surrounding the slain [one].”

[21:3]  ² tn Heb “slain [one].”

[21:4]  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.

[21:4]  ⁴ sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.

[21:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”

[21:5]  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.

[21:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “by their mouth.”

[21:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”

[21:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “slain [one].”

[21:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.

[21:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “our eyes.” This is a figure of speech known as synecdoche in which the part (the eyes) is put for the whole (the entire person).

[21:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “Atone for.”

[21:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”