21Suppose someone is found murdered, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own, and no one knows who killed the person. ²Your elders and judges should go to where the body was found, and they should measure how far it is to the nearby cities. ³The elders of the city nearest the body must take a young cow that has never worked or worn a yoke, ⁴and they must lead her down to a valley that has never been plowed or planted, with a stream flowing through it. There they must break the young cow’s neck. ⁵The priests, the sons of Levi, should come forward, because they have been chosen by the Lord your God to serve him and to give blessings in the Lord’s name. They are the ones who decide cases of quarreling and attacks. ⁶Then all the elders of the city nearest the murdered person should wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken in the valley. ⁷They should declare: “We did not kill this person, and we did not see it happen. ⁸Lord, remove this sin from your people Israel, whom you have saved. Don’t blame your people, the Israelites, for the murder of this innocent person.” And so the murder will be paid for. ⁹Then you will have removed from yourselves the guilt of murdering an innocent person, because you will be doing what the Lord says is right.

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