When no one knows who murdered someone

21 “Suppose someone has been murdered in a field in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, and you do not know who killed that person. 2 If that happens, your elders and judges must go out to where that person’s corpse was found and measure the distance from there to each of the nearby towns. 3 Then the elders in the town that is closest to where the corpse was found must select a young cow that has never been used for doing work. 4 They must take it to a place near a stream where the ground has never been plowed or planted. They must break its neck there in that valley. 5 The priests must go there also, because Yahweh our God has chosen them from the tribe of Levi to serve him and to be his representatives [MTY] when they bless people. And he has also chosen them to settle disputes in which someone has been injured. 6 The elders from the closest town must wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken, 7 and they must say, ‘We did not murder this person [MTY], and we did not see who did it. 8 Yahweh, forgive us, your Israeli people whom you rescued from Egypt. Do not consider ◄us to be guilty/that we should be punished because► of murdering someone who ◄is innocent/had not done something that is wrong►. Instead, forgive us.’ 9 By doing that, you will be doing what Yahweh considers to be right, and you will not be considered to be guilty for murdering that person.”