Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 21:4
bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Israel on the plains of Moab, instructing the community on procedures for an unsolved homicide. The command directs the elders of the nearest city to perform a formal ritual when a slain body is found in open country.
The words — The text specifies הָעֶגְלָה (ha.'eg.lah), meaning "the heifer," and נַחַל (na.chal), meaning "a wadi" or valley with running water. These terms designate the unyoked animal and the unworked, flowing location required for the procedure.
The thread — The ritual appears in Deuteronomy 21:3-4 as a legal provision for blood atonement, while 1 Peter 2:21 and 1 Peter 3:18 connect the broader theme of righteous suffering for the unrighteous to Christ's work. The passages trace the concept from a physical rite to a theological fulfillment.
Why it lands — The text requires the community to acknowledge unresolved blood guilt and execute a concrete act of ritual cleansing. It demands accountability for justice and a recognition that unaddressed violence requires formal, public resolution.
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 the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley:
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:
- 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,