For the thing is very near you – it is in your mouth and in your mind ¹  so that you can do it.

In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him?

the gods of the surrounding people (whether near you or far from you, from one end of the earth ¹  to the other).

and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse ¹  must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. ² 

They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors ¹  had not known about.

I will get revenge and pay them back at the time their foot slips; for the day of their disaster is near, and the impending judgment ¹  is rushing upon them!”

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 –

If the owner ¹  does not live ²  near you or you do not know who the owner is, ³  then you must corral the animal ⁴  at your house and let it stay with you until the owner looks for it; then you must return it to him.