Deuteronomy 21:5

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and pronounce blessings in his name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.

Hebrew Names Version
The Kohanim the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be.

King James Version
And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the Lord ; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:

Lexham English Bible
Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every case of assault will be subject to their ruling.

English Standard Version
Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord , and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled.

New Century Version
The priests, the sons of Levi, should come forward, because they have been chosen by the Lord your God to serve him and to give blessings in the Lord 's name. They are the ones who decide cases of quarreling and attacks.

New English Translation
Then the Levitical priests will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, and to decide every judicial verdict)

Amplified Bible
"Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall approach, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the Name (Presence) of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault (violent crime) shall be settled by them.

New American Standard Bible
"Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, because the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and violent crime shall be settled by them.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Also the Priests the sonnes of Leui (whom the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister, & to blesse in the name of the Lorde) shal come forth, & by their word shal all strife & plague be tried.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then 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.

Complete Jewish Bible
Then the cohanim, who are L'vi'im, are to approach; for Adonai your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in the name of Adonai ; they will decide the outcome of every dispute and matter involving violence.

Darby Translation
and the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them Jehovah thy God hath chosen to do service unto him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah; and according to their word shall be every controversy and every stroke.

Easy-to-Read Version
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.)

George Lamsa Translation
And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near, for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every lawsuit and every attack be tried;

Good News Translation
The levitical priests are to go there also, because they are to decide every legal case involving violence. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name.

Literal Translation
And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near (for Jehovah your God has chosen them to minister to Him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah) and by their mouth shall every controversy and every stroke be tried .

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then shal the prestes ye children of Leui come forth. ( For the LORDE thy God hath chosen them, to serue him, and to prayse his name: and at their mouth shal all plees and strypes be tryed.)

American Standard Version
And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them Jehovah thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be.

Bible in Basic English
Then the priests, the sons of Levi, are to come near; for they have been marked out by the Lord your God to be his servants and to give blessings in the name of the Lord; and by their decision every argument and every blow is to be judged:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the priestes the sonnes of Leui (whom the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister, and to blesse in the name of the Lorde) shall come foorth: and by their worde shall all strife and plague be tryed.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near--for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto Him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be.

King James Version (1611)
And the Priests the sonnes of Leui shall come neere (for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister vnto him, and to blesse in the Name of the Lord: ) and by their worde shall euery controuersie and euery stroke bee tried.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the priests the Levites shall come, because the Lord God has chosen them to stand by him, and to bless in his name, and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be decided.

English Revised Version
and the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be:

Berean Standard Bible
And 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.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the preestis, the sones of Leuy, schulen neiye, whiche thi Lord God chees, that thei mynystre to hym, and blesse in his name, and al the cause hange at `the word of hem; and what euer thing is cleene ethir vncleene, be demed.

Young's Literal Translation
`And the priests, sons of Levi, have come nigh -- for on them hath Jehovah thy God fixed to serve Him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah, and by their mouth is every strife, and every stroke --

Update Bible Version
And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near; for Yahweh your God has chosen them to minister to him, and to bless in the name of Yahweh; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near (for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the LORD) and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be [tried];

World English Bible
The priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them Yahweh your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of Yahweh; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be.

New King James Version
Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; by their word every controversy and every assault shall be settled.

New Living Translation
Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the Lord 's name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases.

New Life Bible
Then the religious leaders, the sons of Levi, will come near for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bring good in the name of the Lord. Every question about what is right and every fight will be decided upon by them.

New Revised Standard
Then 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.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then shall the priests the sons of Levi come near, for of them, hath Yahweh thy God made choice to wait upon him, and to bless in the name of Yahweh, - and at their bidding, shall be settled every controversy and every punishment;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the priests the sons of Levi shall come, whom the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and that by their word every matter should be decided, and whatsoever is clean or unclean should be judged.

Revised Standard Version
And the priests the sons of Levi shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them.

Contextual Overview

¹If a dead body is found on the ground, this ground that God , your God, has given you, lying out in the open, and no one knows who killed him, your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the body to the nearest cities. The leaders and judges of the city that is nearest the corpse will then take a heifer that has never been used for work, never had a yoke on it. The leaders will take the heifer to a valley with a stream, a valley that has never been plowed or planted, and there break the neck of the heifer. The Levitical priests will then step up. God has chosen them to serve him in these matters by settling legal disputes and violent crimes and by pronouncing blessings in God 's name. Finally, all the leaders of that town that is nearest the body will wash their hands over the heifer that had its neck broken at the stream and say, "We didn't kill this man and we didn't see who did it. Purify your people Israel whom you redeemed, O God . Clear your people Israel from any guilt in this murder." That will clear them from any responsibility in the murder. By following these procedures you will have absolved yourselves of any part in the murder because you will have done what is right in God 's sight. When you go to war against your enemies and God , your God, gives you victory and you take prisoners, and then you notice among the prisoners of war a good-looking woman whom you find attractive and would like to marry, this is what you do: Take her home; have her trim her hair, cut her nails, and discard the clothes she was wearing when captured. She is then to stay in your home for a full month, mourning her father and mother. Then you may go to bed with her as husband and wife. If it turns out you don't like her, you must let her go and live wherever she wishes. But you can't sell her or use her as a slave since you've humiliated her. When a man has two wives, one loved and the other hated, and they both give him sons, but the firstborn is from the hated wife, at the time he divides the inheritance with his sons he must not treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn, cutting out the son of the hated wife, who is the actual firstborn. No, he must acknowledge the inheritance rights of the real firstborn, the son of the hated wife, by giving him a double share of the inheritance: that son is the first proof of his virility; the rights of the firstborn belong to him. When a man has a stubborn son, a real rebel who won't do a thing his mother and father tell him, and even though they discipline him he still won't obey, his father and mother shall forcibly bring him before the leaders at the city gate and say to the city fathers, "This son of ours is a stubborn rebel; he won't listen to a thing we say. He's a glutton and a drunk." Then all the men of the town are to throw rocks at him until he's dead. You will have purged the evil pollution from among you. All Israel will hear what's happened and be in awe. When a man has committed a capital crime, been given the death sentence, executed and hung from a tree, don't leave his dead body hanging overnight from the tree. Give him a decent burial that same day so that you don't desecrate your God -given land—a hanged man is an insult to God. ⁹ If a dead body is found on the ground, this ground that God , your God, has given you, lying out in the open, and no one knows who killed him, your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the body to the nearest cities. The leaders and judges of the city that is nearest the corpse will then take a heifer that has never been used for work, never had a yoke on it. The leaders will take the heifer to a valley with a stream, a valley that has never been plowed or planted, and there break the neck of the heifer. The Levitical priests will then step up. God has chosen them to serve him in these matters by settling legal disputes and violent crimes and by pronouncing blessings in God 's name. Finally, all the leaders of that town that is nearest the body will wash their hands over the heifer that had its neck broken at the stream and say, "We didn't kill this man and we didn't see who did it. Purify your people Israel whom you redeemed, O God . Clear your people Israel from any guilt in this murder." That will clear them from any responsibility in the murder. By following these procedures you will have absolved yourselves of any part in the murder because you will have done what is right in God 's sight.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

for them: Deuteronomy 10:8, Deuteronomy 18:5, Numbers 6:22-27, 1 Chronicles 23:13

by their word: Deuteronomy 17:8-12, Malachi 2:7

word: Heb. mouth

Reciprocal: Leviticus 9:22 - his hand Numbers 3:16 - word Numbers 6:23 - General Deuteronomy 19:17 - General 2 Chronicles 19:8 - the judgment Ezekiel 42:13 - approach

Cross-References

Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God showed up and said to him, "I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt! I'll make a covenant between us and I'll give you a huge family."

Genesis 17:17
Abraham fell flat on his face. And then he laughed, thinking, "Can a hundred-year-old man father a son? And can Sarah, at ninety years, have a baby?"

Romans 4:19
Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That's why it is said, "Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right." But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near,.... Who were clearly of the tribe of Levi, as Aben Ezra notes; about whom there could be no dispute; for it seems there sometimes were persons in that office, of whom there was some doubt at least whether they were of that tribe; these seem to be such that belonged to the court of judicature at Jerusalem; see Deuteronomy 17:9, who were to be present at this solemnity, to direct in the performance of it, and to judge and determine in any matter of difficulty that might arise:

for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him; in the service of the sanctuary, by offering sacrifices, c.

and to bless in the name of the Lord the people; see Numbers 6:23

and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried; every controversy between man and man respecting civil things, and every stroke or blow which one man may give another; and whatsoever came before them was tried by them, according to the respective laws given concerning the things in question, and were not determined by them in an arbitrary way, according to their own will and pleasure; see

Deuteronomy 17:8.