The elders of that city wash their hands with water at the site of the calf’s decapitation and say: Our hands have not spilled this blood, and our eyes have not seen (Deut. 21:7). Now did it ever enter our minds that the elders of the court are spillers of blood? Rather, [their statement means]: He did not come before us [only] to be sent away without food, nor did we see him and leave him without escort.  Then the Kohanim say: Forgive Your people Israel whom You, HASHEM, have de-livered and do not place [responsibility for spilling] innocent blood among Your people Israel (Deut. 21:8).  They did not have to say: And the blood shall be atoned for them (ibid.); rather [it is] the Divine Spirit informing them —- [that] whenever they perform this [rite], the blood will be atoned for them.

If the [identity of the] murderer is discovered before the calf has been decapitated, it should go out and pasture with the flock. [If] after the calf has been decapitated, it must be buried at its site, for it originally came [to atone] for an uncertain situation —- it has atoned for its uncertainty and its purpose has been fulfilled.  If the calf was decapitated and subse-quently the murderer was discovered, he should be executed.