Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, August 27th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

New Revised Standard

Deuteronomy 21:7

and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to 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.
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.
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.
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, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, a body is found lying in open country, and it is not known who struck the person down, 2 then your elders and your judges shall come out to measure the distances to the towns that are near the body. 3 The elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked, one that has not pulled in the yoke; 4 the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the wadi. 5 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. 6 All the elders of that town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi, 7 and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to it. 8 Absolve, O Lord , your people Israel, whom you redeemed; do not let the guilt of innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel." Then they will be absolved of bloodguilt. 9 So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, because you must do what is right in the sight of the Lord .

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
The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son.
Genesis 21:12
But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you.
Genesis 21:32
When they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.
Genesis 21:34
And Abraham resided as an alien many days in the land of the Philistines.
Numbers 23:23
Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘See what God has done!'
Psalms 86:8
There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
Psalms 86:10
For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
Isaiah 49:21
Then you will say in your heart, "Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away— so who has reared these? I was left all alone— where then have these come from?"
Isaiah 66:8
Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be delivered in one moment? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor she delivered her children.
Ephesians 3:10
so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and 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.


 
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