5. The priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord, your God, has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and every case of dispute or assault shall be for them to decide.
6. Then all the elders of that city nearest the corpse shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi,
7. and shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see the deed.
8. Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not let the guilt of shedding innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.” Thus they shall be absolved from the guilt of bloodshed,
9. and you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
10. When you go out to war against your enemies and the Lord, your God, delivers them into your power, so that you take captives,
11. if you see a beautiful woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as a wife,
12. and so you take her home to your house, she must shave her head, cut her nails,
13. lay aside her captive’s garb, and stay in your house, mourning her father and mother for a full month. After that, you may come to her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife.
14. If later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; you must not sell her for money. Do not enslave her, since you have violated her.
15. If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and if both the loved and the unloved bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife:
16. when he comes to bequeath his property to his sons he may not consider as his firstborn the son of the wife he loves, in preference to the son of the wife he does not love, the firstborn.
17. On the contrary, he shall recognize as his firstborn the son of the unloved wife, giving him a double share of whatever he happens to own, since he is the first fruits of his manhood, and to him belong the rights of the firstborn.
18. If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not listen to his father or mother, and will not listen to them even though they discipline him,