町の外での殺人
21 主の与えてくださった約束の地で殺人事件があり、被害者は町の外で発見され、現場を目撃した者がいない場合は次のようにしなさい。 2 まず、長老と裁判官が、死体から最も近い町はどこか調べます。 3 どこかわかったら、その町の長老が、まだ農作業に使われたことのない雌の子牛を引いて、 4 渓流のある開墾されていない谷間へ行き、そこで子牛の首を折ります。 5 それから祭司たちが進み出ます。主は、聖所での仕事や人々を祝福することばかりでなく、争いごとや傷害事件が起きたとき、判断を下すためにも祭司を選ばれたのです。 6 そこで、町の長老たちは子牛の上で手を洗いきよめ証言します。 7 『被害者に手をかけたのは私たちではありません。私たちが全く知らないうちに事件は起きたのです。 8 主よ、あなたが買い取られた民イスラエルを、どうぞお赦しください。私たちに、罪のない者を殺した罪を負わせないでください。』 9 このように、主が正しいとみなされる方法で罪悪を取り除きなさい。
捕虜の娘との結婚
10 主が敵をあなたの手に渡され、戦いに勝ち、捕虜を連れて引き揚げるとき、 11 その中に美しい娘がいて妻にしたいと思ったなら、 12 家へ連れ帰りなさい。娘は髪をそり、つめを切り、 13 すっかり着替えをし、捕虜になった時に身に着けていた物を全部はずして、あなたの家で、自分の両親のために一か月の間、喪に服します。そのあとで結婚しなさい。 14 彼女を好きでなくなったら、自由の身にして去らせなさい。彼女を辱めたのですから、売り払ったり、奴隷のように扱ったりしてはいけません。
長男の権利
15 妻が二人あり、どちらにも子どもがある場合、長男の母親である妻は嫌いで、 16 次男の母親である妻のほうを愛しているからといって、次男に長男としての財産を与えることはできません。 17 嫌われている母親の子でも、父親には初めての子であり、長男の権利を持っているのだから、兄に弟の二倍の財産を与えなければなりません。
反抗的な息子
18 いくら懲らしめても親の言うことを聞かない、強情で反抗的な息子は、 19 町の長老のところへ連れて行きなさい。 20 『息子は強情っ張りのうえに反抗的で、とても手に負えません。親の言うことなどそっちのけで、大酒ばかり飲んで、遊び暮らしています』と訴えるのです。 21 そのあと、町の者が息子に石を投げつけて殺します。二度と若者たちがそんな親不孝をしないように見せしめとするためです。
木にかけられた者
22 人が死刑に当たる罪を犯し、殺され、木にかけられる場合は、 23 次の日までそのままにしてはいけません。その日のうちに埋葬しなさい。木にかけられた者は、神にのろわれた者だからです。あなたの神、主に与えられた地を汚してはいけません。
Cleansing for Unsolved Murder
21 “When you are in the land the Lord your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don’t know who committed the murder. 2 In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns. 3 When the nearest town has been determined, that town’s elders must select from the herd a heifer that has never been trained or yoked to a plow. 4 They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the heifer’s neck. 5 Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the Lord’s name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases. 6 “The elders of the town must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken. 7 Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person’s blood, nor did we see it happen. 8 O Lord, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.’ Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person’s blood. 9 By following these instructions, you will do what is right in the Lord’s sight and will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community.
Marriage to a Captive Woman
10 “Suppose you go out to war against your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you, and you take some of them as captives. 11 And suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her and want to marry her. 12 If this happens, you may take her to your home, where she must shave her head, cut her nails, 13 and change the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. She will stay in your home, but let her mourn for her father and mother for a full month. Then you may marry her, and you will be her husband and she will be your wife. 14 But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her.
Rights of the Firstborn
15 “Suppose a man has two wives, but he loves one and not the other, and both have given him sons. And suppose the firstborn son is the son of the wife he does not love. 16 When the man divides his inheritance, he may not give the larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves, as if he were the firstborn son. 17 He must recognize the rights of his oldest son, the son of the wife he does not love, by giving him a double portion. He is the first son of his father’s virility, and the rights of the firstborn belong to him.
Dealing with a Rebellious Son
18 “Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. 19 In such a case, the father and mother must take the son to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. 20 The parents must say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his town must stone him to death. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid.
Various Regulations
22 “If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree,[a] 23 the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung[b] is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession.