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[220]
If a murder be committed in any place, and he that did it be not
found, nor is there any suspicion upon one as if he had hated the man,
and so had killed him, let there be a very diligent inquiry made after
the man, and rewards proposed to any one who will discover him; but if
still no information can be procured, let the magistrates and senate of
those cities that lie near the place in which the murder was committed,
assemble together, and measure the distance from the place where the dead
body lies; then let the magistrates of the nearest city thereto purchase
a heifer, and bring it to a valley, and to a place therein where there
is no land ploughed or trees planted, and let them cut the sinews of the
heifer; then the priests and Levites, and the senate of that city, shall
take water and wash their hands over the head of the heifer; and they shall
openly declare that their hands are innocent of this murder, and that they
have neither done it themselves, nor been assisting to any that did it.
They shall also beseech God to be merciful to them, that no such horrid
act may any more be done in that land.
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