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,
2your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.
3Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work,
4bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.
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.
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,
7and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
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.
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.
10When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,
11if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife,
12then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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,
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,
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.”
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.
22If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
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.
Deuteronomy 21 Verse Notes
Deut 21:18-21
Biblical law includes death sentences and genocide
The Bible contains laws that prescribe death sentences for various offenses, including not honoring parents, and explicitly commands genocide, such as the wiping out of the Canaanites. It also includes rules that permit and regulate slavery, demonstrating that the Bible itself contains elements that can be interpreted as supporting violence, murder, genocide, and oppression.
Summarized by AI · The Bible and the Quran: Comparing Their Historical Problems · Lecture 7: A History of Hatred, Intolerance, and Violence | Is the Bible to Blame? · watch the clip
Biblical Guidance on Ethics
The Bible, when considered as an ethical guide, presents challenges. For example, it contains passages that, if taken literally, would advocate for stoning disobedient children. This suggests that relying solely on biblical texts for moral guidance can be problematic, even for those within the faith.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Can There Be Meaning in a World without God? · watch the clip
Honor your parents: vague in the Decalogue, specific in Deuteronomy 21
Baden says the second tablet, beginning with 'honor your father and mother', turns from duties toward God to human relations, and suggests Deuteronomy may have composed the Decalogue in two panels because it inherited the idea of two tablets from the longer covenant code. He calls 'honor' an awfully vague term but notes that Deuteronomy knows how to write a precise law about children who defy their parents, the wayward son law that ends in stoning, which the ancient rabbis narrowed until it could never be put into practice. He adds that none of the Ten Commandments is repeated in the main law code of Deuteronomy 12 to 28, which makes it puzzling why a parental law appears in both places.
Summarized by AI · The Ten Commandments · Lecture 7: Honoring Parents and... Killing · watch the clip
The 'Wayward Son' Law and its Interpretation
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 describes a severe law for a 'wayward and defiant son' who could be stoned to death. This law highlights that Deuteronomy had specific, non-vague legislation regarding children's disrespect towards parents, contrasting with the vagueness of 'honor your father and mother' in the Ten Commandments. Ancient rabbis, finding this law morally problematic, meticulously narrowed its legal applicability to the point where it could not be practically enforced.
Summarized by AI · The Ten Commandments · Lecture 7: Honoring Parents and... Killing · watch the clip
Deut 21:21-23
Jewish law on stoning and crucifixion
The assertion that Jewish law always required victims of stoning to be crucified (hanged on a tree) is false. Deuteronomy 21:21-23 states that a person hanged on a tree should not be left overnight, but it does not mandate hanging after stoning. Biblical accounts of stoning, such as in Leviticus 24, Numbers 15, Joshua 7, 1 Kings 12, 1 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 24, and Acts 7 and 14, do not show victims being crucified or hanged afterward.
Summarized by AI · Did Jesus Really Exist? Evidence That Even Atheist Historians Accept · Lecture 2: Jesus and the Mythicists · watch the clip
Deut 21:22-23
Jewish Burial Customs and the Law
Jewish law prescribed that the dead be buried on the day of their death. This applied even to those executed by Jewish authorities, who were responsible for providing a decent burial.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · What Happened to Jesus' Body? Was He Buried on the Day of His Crucifixion? · watch the clip
Crucifixion and the Curse of God
A key reason for Paul's opposition was the scriptural understanding that anyone 'hanged on a tree' was cursed by God, as stated in Deuteronomy. For Paul, a crucified Jesus meant a Messiah cursed by God, which was an utterly blasphemous and illogical concept.
Summarized by AI · Bart D. Ehrman · YouTube · Why Did Paul Hate Jesus and His Followers? · watch the clip
Deut 21:23
Jesus' Crucifixion and God's Curse
Before his conversion, Paul understood Jesus' crucifixion as evidence that Jesus was cursed by God, referencing Deuteronomy's statement that anyone hung on a tree is cursed. However, after his vision and belief in Jesus' resurrection, Paul reinterpreted this, concluding that God must have favored Jesus, not cursed him.
Summarized by AI · Paul and His Letters: A Basic Introduction · Paul and His Letters: A Basic Introduction · watch the clip
