4. and those elders will take the cow down to a ravine with a flowing stream—one that has not been plowed or planted—and they will break the cow’s neck right there in the river valley.
5. Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, will step forward because the Lord your God selected them to minister for him and to bless in the Lord’s name, and because every legal dispute and case of assault is decided by them.
6. All the elders of the city closest to the corpse will wash their hands over the cow whose neck was broken in the river valley.
7. They will then solemnly state: "Our hands did not shed this blood. Our eyes did not see it happen.
8. Lord, please forgive your people Israel, whom you saved. Don’t put the guilt of innocent bloodshed on your people Israel."Then the bloodguilt will be forgiven them.
9. But you must remove innocent bloodshed from your community; do only what is right in the Lord’s eyes.
10. When you wage war against your enemies and the Lord hands them over to you and you take prisoners,
11. if you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you fall in love with her and take her as your wife,
12. bringing her into your home, she must shave her head, cut her nails,
13. remove her prisoner’s clothing, and live in your house, mourning her father and her mother for one month. After that, you may consummate the marriage. You will be her husband, and she will be your wife.
14. But if you aren’t pleased with her, you must send her away as she wishes. You are not allowed to sell her for money or treat her as a slave because you have humiliated her.
15. Now suppose a man has two wives—one of them loved and the other unloved. Both wives bear children, but the oldest male is the unloved wife’s child.