13 “If a prophet stands up in your midst or a dreamer of dreams and he gives to you a sign or wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes about that he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,’ 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer, for Yahweh your God is testing you to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your inner self. 4 You shall go after Yahweh your God, and him you shall revere, and his commandment you shall keep, and to his voice you shall listen, and him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast. 5 But that prophet or the dreamer of that dream shall be executed, for he spoke falsely about Yahweh your God, the one bringing you out from the land of Egypt and the one redeeming you from the house of slavery, in order to seduce you from the way that Yahweh your God commanded you to go in it; so in this way you shall purge the evil from your midst.
6 “If your brother, the son of your mother or your son or your daughter or your wife whom you embrace or your intimate friend in secrecy says, ‘Let us go and let us serve other gods!’ gods that you and your ancestors have not known, 7 from among the gods of the people who are around you, those near you or those far from you, from one end of the earth and up to the other end of the earth, 8 you must not give in to him, and you shall not listen to him, and your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall not have compassion, and you shall not cover up for him. 9 But you shall certainly kill him; your hand shall be first against him to kill him and next the hand of all of the people. 10 And you shall stone him with stones and let him die, for he tried to seduce you from Yahweh your God, the one bringing you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 11 And all of Israel shall hear, and they shall fear, and they shall not continue to act according to this evil thing in your midst.
12 “If you hear in one of your towns which Yahweh your God is giving to you to live in, someone saying that 13 worthless men have gone out from your midst and have seduced the inhabitants of their town, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods!’ whom you have not known, 14 then you shall inquire and examine and interrogate thoroughly, and, look! It is true; the thing has actually been done, this detestable thing in your midst, 15 then you shall certainly strike down the inhabitants of that town with the edge of the sword; you shall destroy it and everything in it, its domestic animals with the edge of the sword. 16 And then you shall gather all of its booty into the middle of its public square, and you shall burn the town and all of its war-booty totally for Yahweh your God, and it shall be a pile of rubble forever; it shall not be built again. 17 And let not something cling to your hand from the things devoted to destruction, so that Yahweh may turn back from his burning anger, and he may show compassion to you and he may continue to show compassion and so multiply you just as he swore to your ancestors, 18 if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all of his commandments that I am commanding to you today so as to do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh your God.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 13:1
- Deuteronomy 13:2
- Deuteronomy 13:2
- Deuteronomy 13:2
- Deuteronomy 13:3
- Deuteronomy 13:3
- Deuteronomy 13:6
- Deuteronomy 13:6
- Deuteronomy 13:6
- Deuteronomy 13:6
- Deuteronomy 13:7
- Deuteronomy 13:8
- Deuteronomy 13:11
- Deuteronomy 13:12
- Deuteronomy 13:13
- Deuteronomy 13:13
- Deuteronomy 13:15
- Deuteronomy 13:15
- Deuteronomy 13:16
- Deuteronomy 13:17
- Deuteronomy 13:17
- Deuteronomy 13:17
- Deuteronomy 13:18
