Deuteronomy 21:1

“When there will have been found in the land, which the Lord your God will give to you, the corpse of a man who has been killed, and it is not known who is guilty of the murder,

Catholic Public Domain Version

In The King James Version

If one 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:

In Context

2your judges and those greater by birth shall go out and measure, from the place of the corpse, the distance to each of the surrounding cities.

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Cross References

Psalms 5:6And the malicious will not dwell close to you, nor will the unjust endure before your eyes.

Proverbs 28:17A man who slanders the blood of a life, even if he flees to the pit, no one will tolerate him.

Acts 28:4And truly, when the natives saw the beast hanging from his hand, they were saying to one another: “Certainly, this man must be a murderer, for though he escaped from the sea, vengeance will not permit him to live.”

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 21:1

In this chapter provision is made, I. For the putting away of the guilt of blood from the land, when he that shed it had fled from justice, ver. 1-9 . II. For the preserving of the honour of a captive maid, ver. 10-14 . III. For the securing of the right of a first-born son, though he were not a favourite, ver. 15-17 . IV. For the restraining and punishing of a rebellious son, ver. 18-21 . V. For the maintaining of the honour of human bodies, which must not be hanged in chains, but decently buried, even the bodies… Read the whole commentary →

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