Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 21:3-9 
Context21:3 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. 21:5 Then the Levitical priests 4 will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, 5 and to decide 6 every judicial verdict 7 ) 21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse 8 must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 9 21:7 Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we 10 witnessed the crime. 11 21:8 Do not blame 12 your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” 13 Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. 21:9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before 14 the Lord.
1 tn Heb “slain [one].”
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.
3 sn The unworked heifer, fresh stream, and uncultivated valley speak of ritual purity – of freedom from human contamination.
4 tn Heb “the priests, the sons of Levi.”
5 tn Heb “in the name of the
6 tn Heb “by their mouth.”
7 tn Heb “every controversy and every blow.”
8 tn Heb “slain [one].”
9 tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.
10 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).
11 tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Heb “Atone for.”
13 tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”
14 tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).
