Deuteronomy 21:4
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:
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- et ducent eam ad vallem asperam atque saxosam, quæ numquam arata est, nec sementem recepit : et cædent in ea cervices vitulæ :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ καταβιβάσουσιν ἡ γερουσία τῆς πόλεως ἐκείνης δάμαλιν εἰς φάραγγα τραχεῖαν, ἥτις οὐκ εἴργασται οὐδὲ σπείρεται, καὶ νευροκοπήσουσιν τὴν δάμαλιν ἐν τῇ φάραγγι.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְהוֹרִ֡דוּ זִקְנֵי֩ הָעִ֨יר הַהִ֤וא אֶת הָֽעֶגְלָה֙ אֶל נַ֣חַל אֵיתָ֔ן אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹא יֵעָבֵ֥ד בּ֖וֹ וְלֹ֣א יִזָּרֵ֑עַ וְעָֽרְפוּ שָׁ֥ם אֶת הָעֶגְלָ֖ה בַּנָּֽחַל
Haydock's commentary
Valley. In such places murders are most frequently perpetrated. Hebrew may signify, "a desert," deep or inaccessible torrent, (Haydock) on the side of which the heifer was to be slain, and its body was then, it seems, thrown into the water. The ancients first washed their hands over her. Thus the victim of malediction against those who break a covenant, is buried in a ditch, or cast into the sea. (Homer, Iliad i.)
Was. Some translate the Hebrew "shall be," as if the place was to be hereafter considered as unclean and accursed. (Calmet)
The roughness and depth of the valley, denote the hardness of the murderer's heart, and the depth of his malice. (Menochius)
Strike off, or cœdent, "cut the neck," (Haydock) at the top, without perhaps separating it entirely from the body. Blood was given for blood, and this was the chief design of the bloody sacrifices. For this reason, the Egyptians impressed a seal on the horns of the victim, representing a man kneeling, with his hands tied behind his back, as if ready to receive the stroke of death. (Plut.[Plutarch,?] Isis.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.