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Monday, September 15th, 2025
the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Read the Bible

Webster's Bible Translation

Deuteronomy 21:2

Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which [are] around him that is slain:

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

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

Dictionaries:

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

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Heifer;   Heifer, Red;   Homicide;   Joshua (2);   Prayer;   Salvation;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Ablution;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Abrogation of Laws;   Charity and Charitable Institutions;   Elder;   Eleazar B. Dinai;   Government;   Homicide;   Judge;   Nashim;   Saul;   Soá¹­ah;   Teḥina, Abba;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
your elders and judges are to come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby cities.
Hebrew Names Version
then your Zakenim and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are round about him who is slain:
King James Version
Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:
Lexham English Bible
then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure the distance to the cities that are around the slain one.
English Standard Version
then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities.
New Century Version
Your elders and judges should go to where the body was found, and they should measure how far it is to the nearby cities.
New English Translation
your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse.
Amplified Bible
then your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the dead person.
New American Standard Bible
then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the one who was killed.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then thine Elders & thy Iudges shal come forth, and measure vnto the cities that are round about him that is slayne.
Legacy Standard Bible
then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one.
Contemporary English Version
The judges and other leaders from the towns around there must find out what town is the closest to where the body was found.
Complete Jewish Bible
then your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance between it and the surrounding towns.
Darby Translation
then thine elders and thy judges shall go forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain;
Easy-to-Read Version
Your leaders and judges must come out and measure the distance to the towns around the dead body.
George Lamsa Translation
Then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are round about him that is slain;
Good News Translation
Your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance from the place where the body was found to each of the nearby towns.
Literal Translation
then your elders and your judges shall come out. And they shall measure to the cities which are around the one slain.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
then shal thy Elders & iudges go forth, and meet from the slayne vnto the cities that lye rounde aboute.
American Standard Version
then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:
Bible in Basic English
Then your responsible men and your judges are to come out, and give orders for the distance from the dead body to the towns round about it to be measured;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then thine elders and thy iudges shal come foorth, and measure vnto the cities that are rounde about hym that is slayne:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain.
King James Version (1611)
Then thy Elders and thy Iudges shall come forth, and they shall measure vnto the cities which are round about him that is slaine.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
thine elders and thy judges shall come forth, and shall measure the distances of the cities round about the slain man:
English Revised Version
then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:
Berean Standard Bible
your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
the grettere men in birthe and thi iugis schulen go out, and schulen mete fro the place of the careyn the spaces of alle citees `bi cumpas;
Young's Literal Translation
then have thine elders and thy judges gone out and measured unto the cities which [are] round about the slain one,
Update Bible Version
then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are round about him that is slain:
World English Bible
then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which are round about him who is slain:
New King James Version
then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities.
New Living Translation
In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns.
New Life Bible
then your leaders and judges will go out and see how far it is to the cities that are around the dead man.
New Revised Standard
then your elders and your judges shall come out to measure the distances to the towns that are near the body.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
then shall thine elders and thy judges go forth, - and measure unto the cities that are round about the slain;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thy ancients and judges shall go out, and shall measure from the place where the body lieth the distance of every city round about:
Revised Standard Version
then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are around him that is slain;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one.

Contextual Overview

1 If [one] shall be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, [and] it be not known who hath slain him: 2 Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure to the cities which [are] around him that is slain: 3 And it shall be [that] the city [which is] next to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer which hath not been wrought with, [and] which hath not drawn in the yoke; 4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a rough valley, which is neither tilled nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley; 5 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]; 6 And all the elders of that city [that are] next to the slain [man], shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: 7 And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen [it]. 8 Be merciful, O LORD, to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood to the charge of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them. 9 So shalt thou remove the [guilt of] innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do [that which is] right in the sight of the LORD.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Deuteronomy 16:18, Deuteronomy 16:19, Romans 13:3, Romans 13:4

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 21:19 - and bring

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, [and] with his seed after him.
Genesis 17:21
But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to thee at this set time in the next year.
Genesis 18:10
And he said, I will certainly return to thee according to the time of life; and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard [it] in the tent door, which [was] behind him.
Genesis 18:14
Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return to thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
Genesis 21:16
And she went, and sat her down over against [him], a good way off, as it were a bow-shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against [him], and raised her voice, and wept.
Genesis 21:17
And God heard the voice of the lad: and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he [is].
Genesis 21:24
And Abraham said, I will swear.
Genesis 21:25
And Abraham reproved Abimelech, because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
Luke 1:36
And behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren:
Acts 7:8
And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so [Abraham] begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac [begat] Jacob, and Jacob [begat] the twelve patriarchs.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth,.... From the city or cities near to which the murder was committed, to make inquiry about it, and expiation for it; so Aben Ezra interprets it of the elders of the cities near, but others understand it of the elders of the great sanhedrim at Jerusalem; so the Targum of Jonathan,

"then shall go out from the great sanhedrim two of thy wise men, and three of thy judges;''

and more expressly the Misnah l,

"three go out from the great sanhedrim in Jerusalem;''

R. Judah says five,

"it is said "thy elders" two, and "thy judges" two,''

and there is no sanhedrim or court of judicature equal (or even), therefore they add to them one more:

and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain; that is, from the place where the slain lies, as Jarchi rightly interprets it; on all sides of it, from the four corner's, as the Targum of Jonathan, the cities round about the slain. Maimonides m says, they do not behead the heifer for, nor measure, but to a city in which there is a sanhedrim: if it is found between two cities (that is, at an equal distance), both bring two heifers (Maimonides n says they bring one between them, which is most reasonable); but the city of Jerusalem does not bring an heifer to be beheaded: the reason is, because it was not divided to the tribes o. This measuring, one would think, should be only necessary when it was not certain which was the nearest city; and yet Maimonides p says, even when it was found on the side of a city, which was certainly known to be nearest, they measured; the command, he observes, is to measure.

l Sotah, c. 9. sect. 1. m Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 9. sect. 4. n Ib. sect. 8. o Maimon Hilchot Rotzeachs, c. 9. sect. 8. p lb. c. 9. sect. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The elders represented the citizens at large, the judges the magistracy: priests Deuteronomy 21:5 from the nearest priestly town, were likewise to be at hand. Thus, all classes would be represented at the purging away of that blood-guiltiness which until removed attached to the whole community.


 
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