Deuteronomy 21:1-9

1In the land that the Lord your God is giving to you, you may find someone's dead body lying in a field. Someone has killed him but you do not know who the murderer is.

2Your leaders and your judges must then go to the field. They must measure how far the place is from the nearest towns.

3Then the leaders from the town that is nearest to the body must take a young cow that has never done work on a farm.

4They must lead the cow down to a valley where no one has ploughed the ground or planted seed. There must be a stream of water in the valley. There they must break the cow's neck.

5The Levite priests must go there too. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to ask him to bless his people. They also decide as judges what is right.

6After the leaders of the town have broken the cow's neck, they must wash their hands over it.

7Then they will say, ‘We did not kill this person. We did not see who killed him.

8Please Lord, accept this animal from your people, Israel, that you have rescued. Do not say that we are guilty of this murder. This person did not deserve to die like this.’ When they do that, the Lord will accept their gift and he will forgive you.

9In this way, you will not be guilty of the murder. You will remove this evil act from among you. You must do what the Lord says is right.