Lectionary Calendar
Monday, December 22nd, 2025
the Fourth Week of Advent
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Legacy Standard Bible

Deuteronomy 21:7

and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

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.
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.
Easy-to-Read Version
These leaders must say, ‘We did not kill this person, and we did not see it happen.
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"If a slain person is found fallen in the open country in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him, 2then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. 3And it shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; 4and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and they shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. 5Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to minister for Him and to bless in the name of Yahweh; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. 6And all the elders of that city who are nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; 7and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. 8Atone for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Yahweh, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.' And the bloodguiltiness shall be atoned for them. 9So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.

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
And the matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.
Genesis 21:12
So God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and your maidservant; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice, for through Isaac your seed shall be named.
Genesis 21:32
So they cut a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines.
Genesis 21:34
And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines for many days.
Numbers 23:23
For there is no omen against Jacob,Nor is there any divination against Israel;At the proper time it shall be said to JacobAnd to Israel, what God has done!
Psalms 86:8
There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord,Nor are there any works like Yours.
Psalms 86:10
For You are great and do wondrous deeds;You alone are God.
Isaiah 49:21
Then you will say in your heart,‘Who has borne these for me?Indeed, I have been bereaved of my childrenAnd am barren, an exile and a wanderer.And who has reared these?Behold, I remained alone;From where did these come?'"
Isaiah 66:8
Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things?Can a land be brought forth through labor pains in one day?Can a nation be born all at once?As soon as Zion was in labor pains, she also gave birth to her sons.
Ephesians 3:10
so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

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.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile