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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Deuteronomy 21:7

These leaders must say, ‘We did not kill this person, and we did not see it happen.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;   Government;   Heifer;   Homicide;   Inquest;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Blood;   Hands, the;   Murder;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Sacrifice;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Priest;   Uncleanness;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Kinsman-Redeemer;   Leadership;   Murder;   Priest, Priesthood;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Alms;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Ablution;   Murder;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Blood;   Murder;   Unclean and Clean;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ablutions;   Blood;   Court Systems;   Crimes and Punishments;   Elder;   Gestures;   Heifer;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Clean and Unclean;   Crimes and Punishments;   Deuteronomy;   Justice;   Prayer;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Elders;   Heifer;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Blood;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Murder;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gesture;   Heifer;   Heifer, Red;   Homicide;   Prayer;   Salvation;   Shed;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Ablution;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Abrogation of Laws;   Charity and Charitable Institutions;   Eleazar B. Dinai;   Homicide;   Judge;   Nashim;   Police Laws;   Saul;   Soá¹­ah;   Teḥina, Abba;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They will declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it.
Hebrew Names Version
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
King James Version
And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Lexham English Bible
And they shall declare, and they shall say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see what was done.
English Standard Version
and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed.
New Century Version
They should declare: "We did not kill this person, and we did not see it happen.
New English Translation
Then they must proclaim, "Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we witnessed the crime.
Amplified Bible
and they shall respond, and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
New American Standard Bible
and they shall respond and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see who did.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And shal testifie, and say, Our handes haue not shed this blood, neither haue our eies seene it.
Legacy Standard Bible
and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
Contemporary English Version
and say, "We had no part in this murder, and we don't know who did it.
Complete Jewish Bible
(Maftir) Then they are to speak up and say, ‘This blood was not shed by our hands, nor have we seen who did it.
Darby Translation
and shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
George Lamsa Translation
And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen the victim.
Good News Translation
and say, ‘We did not murder this one, and we do not know who did it.
Literal Translation
And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and shal answere and saie: Oure hades haue not shed this bloude, nether haue oure eyes sene it.
American Standard Version
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Bible in Basic English
Will say, This death is not the work of our hands and our eyes have not seen it.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And shall aunswere, and say: Our handes haue not shed this blood, neither haue our eyes seene it.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they shall speak and say: 'Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
King James Version (1611)
And they shall answere, and say, Our hands haue not shedde this blood, neither haue our eyes seene it.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it.
English Revised Version
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Berean Standard Bible
and they shall declare, "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and thei schulen seie, Oure hondis schedden not out this blood, nether oure iyen sien.
Young's Literal Translation
and they have answered and said, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen --
Update Bible Version
and they shall answer and say, Our hands haven't shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Webster's Bible Translation
And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen [it].
World English Bible
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
New King James Version
Then they shall answer and say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.
New Living Translation
Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person's blood, nor did we see it happen.
New Life Bible
Then they will say, ‘Our hands have not killed him. Our eyes have not seen it.
New Revised Standard
and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to it.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and shall respond, and say, - Our hands, shed not this blood, neither did, our eyes, see the deed .
Douay-Rheims Bible
And shall say: Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
Revised Standard Version
and they shall testify, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, neither did our eyes see it shed.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
and they shall answer and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

Contextual Overview

1 "In the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you might find a dead body in a field, but no one knows who killed that person. 2 Your leaders and judges must come out and measure the distance to the towns around the dead body. 3 When you learn which town is nearest to the dead body, the leaders of that town must take a cow from their herds. It must be a cow that never had a calf and that has never been used for work. 4 The leaders of that town must then bring the cow down to a valley with running water. It must be a valley that has never been plowed or had anything planted in it. Then the leaders must break the cow's neck there in that valley. 5 The priests, the descendants of Levi, must also go there. (The Lord your God has chosen these priests to serve him and to bless people in the name of the Lord . The priests will decide who is right in every lawsuit and whenever someone is hurt.) 6 All the leaders of the town nearest the dead body must wash their hands over the cow that had its neck broken in the valley. 7 These leaders must say, ‘We did not kill this person, and we did not see it happen. 8 Lord , you saved your people Israel. Now make us pure. Don't blame us for killing an innocent person.' In this way these men will not be blamed for killing an innocent person. 9 In this way you will remove that guilt from your group by doing what the Lord said.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Numbers 5:19-28, 2 Samuel 16:8, Job 21:21-23, Job 21:31-34, Psalms 7:3, Psalms 7:4

Reciprocal: Matthew 5:21 - and Matthew 23:35 - upon Matthew 27:24 - and washed

Cross-References

Genesis 21:11
This upset Abraham very much. He was worried about his son Ishmael.
Genesis 21:12
But God said to Abraham, "Don't worry about the boy and the slave woman. Do what Sarah wants. Your descendants will be those who come through Isaac.
Genesis 21:32
So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, his military commander, went back to the country of the Philistines.
Genesis 21:34
And Abraham lived as a stranger for a long time in the country of the Philistines.
Numbers 23:23
There is no power that can defeat the people of Jacob. There is no magic that can stop the Israelites. People will say this about Jacob and the Israelites: ‘Look at the great things God did!'
Psalms 86:8
My Lord, there is no God like you. No one can do what you have done.
Psalms 86:10
You are great and do amazing things. You and you alone are God.
Isaiah 49:21
Then you will say to yourself, ‘Who gave me all these children? I was sad and lonely. My children were taken away. They were gone. So who gave me these children? Look, I was the only one left. Where did all these children come from?'"
Ephesians 3:10
His purpose was that all the rulers and powers in the heavenly places will now know the many different ways he shows his wisdom. They will know this because of the church.
2 Thessalonians 1:10
This will happen on the day when the Lord Jesus comes to receive honor with his holy people. He will be admired among all who have believed. And this includes you because you believed what we told you.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they shall answer and say,.... The elders of the city, at the time of the washing of their hands:

our hands have not shed this blood; have been no ways concerned in it, nor accessory to it: the Targum of Jonathan is,

"it is manifest before the Lord that he did not come into our hands, nor did we dismiss him, that has shed this blood;''

which is more fully explained in the Misnah y; for had they been aware of him, or had any suspicion of him or his design, they would have detained him, or at least would not have suffered him to have departed alone:

neither have our eyes seen; it, or him; so the Targum of Jerusalem,

"our eyes have not seen him that hath shed this blood;''

by which expression is meant, that they had no manner of knowledge of the murderer, nor of any circumstance that could lead them to suspect or conclude who he was.

y Ut supra, (Sotah. c. 9.) sect. 6.


 
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