1If someone is found slain in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it isn’t known who has struck him, 2then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure to the cities which are around him who is slain. 3It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn’t been worked with and which has not drawn in the yoke. 4The 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. 5The priests the sons of Levi shall come near, for them Yahweh your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in Yahweh’s name; and according to their word shall every controversy and every assault be decided. 6All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 7They shall answer and say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. 8Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don’t allow innocent blood among your people Israel.” The blood shall be forgiven them. 9So you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’s eyes.
10When you go out to battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God delivers them into your hands and you carry them away captive, 11and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you are attracted to her, and desire to take her as your wife, 12then you shall bring her home to your house. She shall shave her head and trim her nails. 13She shall take off the clothing of her captivity, and shall remain in your house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14It shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she desires; but you shall not sell her at all for money. You shall not deal with her as a slave, because you have humbled her.
15If a man has two wives, the one beloved and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated, 16then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the beloved the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn; 17but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.
18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them, 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place. 20They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear.
22If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. Don’t defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.
"Let Him be crucified!" (Matt 27:22, 23), was the repeated cry of the multitudes in answer to Pilate's question, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" (v. 22). But what did this method of execution involve, and what is its theological significance?
The Romans adopted and perfected the practice of crucifixion that probably originated with the Persians. Its purpose was not to produce death so much as to prolong the agony of dying. It was reserved for slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and those guilty of the most heinous crimes, except Roman citizens who were exempt. The victim's wrists were first nailed to a beam that was then lifted and attached to a vertical pole. His feet were nailed to the pole, and the weight of his body was supported by a peg under his crotch. Shock from the loss of blood, thirst from dehydration, exhaustion from difficulty breathing, and exposure to the elements contributed to the victim's eventual death, which was sometimes hastened by breaking the victim's legs.
The agony of death by crucifixion is described in remarkable detail in Psalms 22:12-18, hundreds of years before its use by the Romans. Jesus' crucifixion was the occasion of his piercing (Isa 53:5; Zech 12:10; John 19:37); his being made a curse for us (Deut 21:23; Gal 3:13); and his death by the shedding of blood (Lev 5:11; 17:11; Heb 9:22). That his legs were not broken is evidence that he laid down his life (John 10:15, 17), voluntarily yielding his spirit (Matt 27:50), and corresponds to a requirement for the Passover lamb (Exod 12:46; John 19:36).