Help QuickNav Adv. Options
NIV

NIV

Click to Change

Return to Top

Return to Top

Printer Icon

Print

Copy
Copy Options
Format by: Verse Paragraph
Strong's
Red Letter
Audio Bibles
Copy Options
Cite Print
The Blue Letter Bible

Deuteronomy 21 :: New International Version (NIV)

Choose a new font size and typeface
Audio Bibles

Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:1

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:1 - If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:2

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:2 - your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:3

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:3 - Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:4

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:4 - and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:5

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:5 - The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the LORD and to decide all cases of dispute and assault.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:6

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:6 - Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:7

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:7 - and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:8

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:8 - Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:9

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:9 - and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

Marrying a Captive Woman

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:10

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:10 - When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:11

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:11 - if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:12

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:12 - Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:13

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:13 - and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:14

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:14 - If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

The Right of the Firstborn

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:15

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:15 - If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:16

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:16 - when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:17

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:17 - He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.

A Rebellious Son

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:18

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:18 - If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:19

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:19 - his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:20

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:20 - They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:21

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:21 - Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

Various Laws

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:22

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:22 - If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole,

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Deu 21:23

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 21:23 - you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NIV

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.


See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.

BLB Searches
Search the Bible
NIV
  [?]

Advanced Options

Other Searches

Multi-Verse Retrieval
x
NIV
Daily Devotionals
x

Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness.

Daily Bible Reading Plans
x

Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.

One-Year Plans

Two-Year Plan

Deuteronomy Chapter 21 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras