Atlas Biblica

    Deuteronomy · 23 verses

    Deuteronomy 21

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    An unknown murder summons the nearest city to a stream, where an unused heifer loses its neck and the elders wash their hands over it: a remarkably elaborate way of saying, “Not us.”

    The blood in the fieldvv. 1–9

    When a slain man is found in a field and no killer is known, the elders and judges measure out the nearest city. Its elders take an unworked heifer to an untouched valley with running water, break its neck, wash their hands over it, and make their innocence a public statement. The priests, sons of Levi, stand by for blessing and judgment, while the elders ask that innocent blood not be charged against Israel.

    The captive woman and the firstbornvv. 10–17

    War brings a beautiful captive woman into a man’s sight, and desire brings her into his house. She shaves her head, trims her nails, puts away the clothing of captivity, and mourns her father and mother for a month before marriage. If the man later changes his mind, she must go free rather than be sold, since he has dishonored her. In a different household tangle, affection cannot rearrange inheritance: the firstborn son of the unloved wife receives the double portion.

    The household brought to the gatevv. 18–23

    A stubborn and rebellious son is not left as a private family nuisance. His father and mother seize him, bring him to the elders at the gate, and give him a devastating introduction: disobedient, gluttonous, and drunk. The men of the city stone him, and the matter ends with a body on a tree that must be buried before nightfall, lest the land be defiled.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Deut 21:1If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,

    2. Deut 21:2your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.

    3. Deut 21:3Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work,

    4. Deut 21:4bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.

    5. Deut 21:5And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.

    6. Deut 21:6Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken,

    7. Deut 21:7and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

    8. Deut 21:8Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for.

    9. Deut 21:9So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

    10. Deut 21:10When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,

    11. Deut 21:11if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife,

    12. Deut 21:12then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,

    13. Deut 21:13and put aside the clothing of her captivity. After she has lived in your house a full month and mourned her father and mother, you may have relations with her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

    14. Deut 21:14And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

    15. Deut 21:15If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son,

    16. Deut 21:16when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife.

    17. Deut 21:17Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of his unloved wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For that son is the firstfruits of his father’s strength; the right of the firstborn belongs to him.

    18. Deut 21:18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,

    19. Deut 21:19his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,

    20. Deut 21:20and say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”

    21. Deut 21:21Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

    22. Deut 21:22If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,

    23. Deut 21:23you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 161 passages were voted onto 23 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 23Galatians 3:13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
    • 23John 19:31It was the day of Preparation, and the next day was a High Sabbath. In order that the bodies would not remain on the cross during the Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed.
    • 51 Chronicles 23:13The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were set apart forever to consecrate the most holy things, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister before Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name forever.
    • 5Malachi 2:7For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
    • 5Deuteronomy 10:8At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as they do to this day.
    • 15Genesis 29:33Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.
    • 17Genesis 49:3Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
    • 5Deuteronomy 19:17both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.
    • 14Deuteronomy 22:29then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.
    • 18Leviticus 19:3Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.
    • 18Exodus 20:12Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
    • 22Acts 26:31On their way out, they said to one another, “This man has done nothing worthy of death or imprisonment.”
    • 232 Corinthians 5:21God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
    • 1Isaiah 26:21For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.
    • 5Numbers 6:22–27Then the LORD said to Moses,
    • 5Deuteronomy 18:5For the LORD your God has chosen Levi and his sons out of all your tribes to stand and minister in His name for all time.

    Onward

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