Deuteronomy 21:3-4

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.

[21:3]  ¹ tn Heb “slain [one].”

[21:4]  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.

[21:4]  ³ sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.