Deuteronomy 21:1–9

Law concerning Murder by Persons Unknown

²¹“If, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, a body is found lying in open country, and it is not known who struck the person down,^{* 2}then your elders and your judges shall come out to measure the distances to the towns that are near the body. ³The elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked, one that has not pulled in the yoke; ⁴the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi. ⁵Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord, and by their decision all cases of dispute and assault shall be settled.^{* 6}All the elders of that town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi, ⁷and they shall declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to it. ⁸Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel, whom you redeemed; do not let the guilt of innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.’ Then they will be absolved of bloodguilt.^{* 9}So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, because you must do what is right in the sight of the Lord.^*