Deuteronomy 21:4

21:4 and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, ¹  to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. ²  There at the wadi they are to break the heifer’s neck.

Deuteronomy 28:48

28:48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty ³  you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They ⁴  will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you.

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¹ 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.

² sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.

³ tn Heb “lack of everything.”

⁴ tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).