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1 If someone is found slain in the land which Adonai your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has struck him; 2 then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain. 3 It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke. 4 * The leaders of that town are to bring the heifer down to a valley with a stream in it that never dries up, to a place that is neither plowed nor sown; † and they are to break the cow’s neck there in the valley 5 The priests the sons of Levi [United with] shall come near; for them Adonai your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in Adonai’s name; and according to their word shall every controversy and every assault be decided. 6 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. (Maftir ·Conclusion·) 7 They shall answer and say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. 8 Forgive, Adonai, your people Israel [God prevails], whom you have redeemed, and don’t allow innocent blood among your people Israel [God prevails].” The blood shall be forgiven them. 9 So you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in Adonai’s eyes.
Haftarah Shof'tim ·Taking leave· ·Judges·:
Yesha'yahu / Isaiah 51:12-52:12;
(Messianic adaptation: Conclude the Haftarah at 53:12)
B'rit Hadashah ·New Covenant·: Matt 26:36-27:10
Parashah 49: Ki Tetze ·When You go out· 21:10-25:19
10 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and Adonai your God delivers them into your hands, and you carry them away captive, 11 ‡ and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have chasak ·set your affection· for her, and desire to take her as your wife; 12 then you shall bring her home to your house. She shall shave her head and trim her nails. 13 She shall take the clothing of her captivity off of herself, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 § It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she desires; * but you shall not sell her at all for money. You shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her. 15 If a man has two wives, the one 'ahav ·affectionately loved·, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the 'ahav ·affectionately loved· and the hated; and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated; 16 then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the 'ahav ·affectionately loved· the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn; 17 but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength. The mishpat ·right· of the firstborn is his. 18 †
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not sh'ma ·hear obey· the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them; 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place. 20 They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not sh'ma ·hear obey· our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. ‡So you shall remove the evil from among you. § All Israel [God prevails] shall sh'ma ·hear obey·, and fear.
(2) 22 If a man has committed a crime deserving peanlty, sin ·missing the goal· mishpat ·judged· worthy of death, and he is put to death, *
and you hang him on a tree; † 23 ‡
his body shall not remain all night on the tree, § but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; * † that you don’t defile your land which Adonai your God gives you for an inheritance.
* 21:4 . Deut 21:4 (Deut 21:1-9) (#6.412): To break the red heifer’s neck in the valley for atonement of an unsolved murder † 21:4 . Deut 21:4 (Deut 21:1-9) (#6.413): Not to till nor sow the riverbed where the heifer was slaughtered for atonement of an unsolved murder / R. Note: The Rabbis clarify the red heifer is “decapitated” ‡ 21:11 . Deut 21:11 (Deut 21:10-14) (#7.471): To deal with a beautiful woman who was taken captive in war as prescribed in the Torah ·Teaching· (Deut 21:11-21) § 21:14 . Deut 21:14 (Deut 21:10-14) (#7.472): T. Not to sell a beautiful woman taken captive in war / R. Not to sell her into slavery, the beautiful woman taken as a captive in war * 21:14 . Deut 21:14 (Deut 21:10-14) (#7.473): T. Not to make a slave out of a beautiful woman taken captive in war / R. Not to enslave a beautiful woman taken captive in war after having sexual relations with her † 21:18 . Deut 21:18, 21:20 (Deut 21:18-21; Gen 9:4-6) (#5.376): Not to be a stubborn and rebellious son T. Example: Stubborn and refusing admonition and discipline from his parents. Not to eat and drink like a glutton and a drunkard. A child living a wild and unrestrained life. R. Note: The punishment is stoning to death, yet Judaism does not have any record of this consequence being administered ‡ 21:21 (21-23) MP: Messiah is cursed on our behalf, hanged on a stake, (See also Is 53:5). (John 19:31; Gal 3:13) § 21:21 . Quoted in 1 Cor 5:13 * 21:22 . Deut 21:22 (Deut 21:22-23; Gen 9:4-6) (#6.414): T. To hang on the gallows a person whose judgment is capitol punishment (death) / R. For the court to hang those stoned for blasphemy or idolatry (yes, this is accurately stated) / R. To hang the dead body of one who has incurred that penalty T. Note: The passage does not define a particular sin, rather any sin whose punishment is death R. Note: The Rabbis do not recognize hanging as a method for capitol punishment. “Four deaths have been entrusted to the court: stoning, burning, slaying ·by the sword· and strangulation” (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 7:1) / T. Note: It can be derived that stoning was the standard method of execution (Lev 24:23; Num 15:36; 1 King 21:13; 2 Chr 24:21) / R. Reason: The Rabbis interpret the use of this punishment of hanging as a disgrace to the criminal and a warning to others in order to prevent more sins of the same sort (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 6:4) R. Consider: Example: According to Rabbi Eliezer, the Torah ·Teaching· commands that all executed people are hung after their execution. However, the Sages say that this is done only to the blasphemer (of God) and to the idol worshiper (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 6:4) / Note: The Hebrew word talah ·to hang· implies hanging by the hands, not by the neck and not lynching. Talah ·to hang· was usually done either with hands above the head on a plank or with hands outstretched on a T-cross beam gallows (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 6:4) / Note: The Hebrew talah ·to hang· on a gibbet type of gallows is similar to the Roman method of crucifixion on a cross, but they are not the exact same punishment in respect to the philosophies and application of punishment † 21:22 . Quoted in 1 Pet 2:24 ‡ 21:23 . Deut 21:23 (Deut 21:22-23) (#6.415): T. Not to have a dead body hanging on a tree overnight / R. Not to delay burial overnight R. Note: The Rabbis interpret hanging not as a form of the death penalty but rather is to be performed after the execution has been carried out (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 6:4) § 21:23 . Deut 21:23 (Deut 21:22-23) (#6.416): To bury the executed on the day of execution * 21:23 . (22-23) Quoted in Acts 5:30; Gal 3:13 † 21:23 . Quoted in Acts 10:39, 13:29