Deuteronomy 21:4
New International Version
and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck.

New Living Translation
They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the heifer’s neck.

English Standard Version
And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

Berean Standard Bible
bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.

King James Bible
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:

New King James Version
The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

New American Standard Bible
and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

NASB 1995
and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

NASB 1977
and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

Legacy Standard Bible
and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

Amplified Bible
and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a [river] valley with running water, which has not been plowed or planted, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

Christian Standard Bible
The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream.

American Standard Version
and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the Elders of this city shall bring down the heifer to a barren valley that is not cultivated and was not sown, and slaughter the heifer there in the valley:

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer into a rough valley, which has not been tilled and is not sown, and they shall slay the heifer in the valley.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they shall bring her into a rough and stony valley, that never was ploughed, nor sown: and there they shall strike off the head of the heifer:

English Revised Version
and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The leaders of that city will bring the heifer down to a river, to a location where the land hasn't been plowed or planted. At the river they must break the heifer's neck.

Good News Translation
They are to take it down to a spot near a stream that never runs dry and where the ground has never been plowed or planted, and there they are to break its neck.

International Standard Version
and are to lead the heifer to a flowing stream in a valley that has never been tilled or planted. They are to break the heifer's neck there.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which may neither be plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

Literal Standard Version
and [the] elderly of that city have brought down the heifer to a hard valley, which is not tilled nor sown, and have beheaded the heifer there in the valley.

Majority Standard Bible
bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.

New American Bible
the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with an everflowing stream at a place that has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi.

NET Bible
and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water, to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown. There at the wadi they are to break the heifer's neck.

New Revised Standard Version
the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi.

New Heart English Bible
and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a rough valley, which is neither tilled nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley;

World English Bible
The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.

Young's Literal Translation
and the elders of that city have brought down the heifer unto a hard valley, which is not tilled nor sown, and have beheaded there the heifer in the valley.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Atonement for an Unsolved Murder
3Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work, 4bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream. 5And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.…

Cross References
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,

Deuteronomy 21:5
And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.

1 Samuel 6:7
Now, therefore, prepare one new cart with two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.

Ezekiel 36:9
For behold, I am on your side; I will turn toward you, and you will be tilled and sown.


Treasury of Scripture

And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley:

shall strike

1 Peter 2:21-24
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: …

1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

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Break City Cow Elders Ever-Flowing Hard Heifer Heifer's Lead Neck Planted Ploughed Plowed Rough Running Sown Stream Strike Tilled Valley Water Watercourse
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Break City Cow Elders Ever-Flowing Hard Heifer Heifer's Lead Neck Planted Ploughed Plowed Rough Running Sown Stream Strike Tilled Valley Water Watercourse
Deuteronomy 21
1. The Atonement for an Unsolved Murder
10. The usage of a captive taken to wife
15. The firstborn is not to be disinherited upon private affection
18. A rebellious son is to be stoned to death
22. The malefactor must not hang all night on a tree














Verse 4. - A rough valley; literally, a stream of perpetuity, a perennial stream (cf. Psalm 74:15, Authorized Version, "mighty rivers;" Amos 5:24); but here rather the valley or wady through which a stream flowed, as is evident from its being described as neither eared - that is, ploughed (literally, wrought, tilled) - nor sown; a place which had not been profaned by the hand of man, but was in a state of nature. "This regulation as to the locality in which the act of expiation was to be performed was probably founded on the idea that the water of the brook-valley would suck in the blood and clean it away, and that the blood sucked in by the earth would not be brought to light again by the ploughing and working of the soil" (Keil). Strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley; rather, break the heifer's neck. As this was not an act of sacrifice, for which the shedding of blood would have been required, but simply a symbolical representation of the infliction of death on the undiscovered murderer, the animal was to be killed by breaking its neck (cf. Exodus 13:13).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
bring
וְהוֹרִ֡דוּ (wə·hō·w·ri·ḏū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 3381: To come or go down, descend

the heifer
הָֽעֶגְלָה֙ (hā·‘eḡ·lāh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5697: A, calf, one nearly grown

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

a valley
נַ֣חַל (na·ḥal)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5158: A stream, a winter torrent, a, valley, a shaft

with running water
אֵיתָ֔ן (’ê·ṯān)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 386: Perennial, ever-flowing, permanence

that
אֲשֶׁ֛ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

has not
לֹא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

been plowed
יֵעָבֵ֥ד (yê·‘ā·ḇêḏ)
Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5647: To work, to serve, till, enslave

or sown,
יִזָּרֵ֑עַ (yiz·zā·rê·a‘)
Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2232: To sow, to disseminate, plant, fructify

and break its
הָעֶגְלָ֖ה (hā·‘eḡ·lāh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5697: A, calf, one nearly grown

neck
וְעָֽרְפוּ־ (wə·‘ā·rə·p̄ū-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 6202: To break the neck, to destroy

there
שָׁ֥ם (šām)
Adverb
Strong's 8033: There, then, thither

by the stream.
בַּנָּֽחַל׃ (ban·nā·ḥal)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5158: A stream, a winter torrent, a, valley, a shaft


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OT Law: Deuteronomy 21:4 And the elders of that city shall (Deut. De Du)
Deuteronomy 21:3
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