21 If a dead body is found in the land that your god Yahweh is about to give you, and it appears that that person had been killed out in the countryside by some unknown person, 2 then your elders and your judges must go out and work out the distance to each of the towns close to that victim. 3 Then the elders from that closest town must select a heifer from their herd that’s never been yoked or had to pull anything, 4 and take it down into a valley that has a stream but the ground has never been ploughed or planted. They must break its neck there 5 and the Levitical priests must approach it because your god Yahweh has chosen them to serve him and pronounce blessings on Yahweh’s behalf, and to give rulings on disputes and assaults. 6 Then all the elders from that closest town must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7 and say, “We didn’t murder this person, nor did we see who did it. 8 Yahweh, forgive your Israeli people who you rescued from Egypt. Don’t count us as guilty for murdering an innocent person.”

When they do that, Yisrael will be forgiven for that murder. 9 That’s how your country will remove from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, when you do what’s right in Yahweh’s eyes.