Deuteronomy 21 Atonement for a death whose author is unknown

Deuteronomy 21
Atonement for a death whose author is unknown
1 When in the land which Jehovah thy God shall give thee to possess it, if he find any dead fallen in the field, it is not known who killed him.
2 Then shall your elders and your judges go out, and measure the space to the cities that are round about the dead;
3 And in the city which is nearer to the dead, the elders of the same city shall take a calf from the herd, which hath neither labored nor yoked;
4 And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer into a rough valley, which was neither plowed nor sown; and there in that valley shall they slay the heifer;
5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near (for the LORD thy God hath chosen them to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by his word shall every evil thing and every wound be determined);
6 And all the elders of the same city, even unto the dead, shall wash their hands upon the slain heifer in the valley;
7 And they shall protest and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it.
8 Be propitious to your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O LORD, and put not the innocent blood among your people Israel. And that blood shall be atoned for them.
9 Thus shalt thou take away the innocent blood from among thee: for thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.