Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 21:3
Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Israel regarding a found slain person, directing the nearest city’s leadership to perform a specific ritual to address unresolved blood guilt.
The words — זִקְנֵי֩ (zik.Nei) = elders and הֶ/חָלָ֑ל (he./cha.Lal) = the slain one.
The thread — The unyoked heifer statute reappears in Numbers 19:2, while the metaphor of an untrained calf surfaces in Jeremiah 31:18.
Why it lands — The text demands that the community closest to the discovery assume responsibility for the unresolved death through a costly, specific ritual act.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke;
Cross-references
- Numbers 19:2 “This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red heifer that has no defect and has never been placed under a yoke.
- Jeremiah 31:18 I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.
- Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.