from Crossway1“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, (Jer 23:25; Jer 23:32; Jer 27:9; Jer 29:8; Zec 10:2)2and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ (De 18:22; Jer 28:9)3you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (De 8:2)4You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. (De 10:20; 2Ki 23:3; 2Ch 34:31)5But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil[1] from your midst. (De 17:7; De 18:20; De 19:19; De 21:21; De 22:21; De 24:7; Jer 2:8; Jer 14:14; Zec 13:3; 1Co 5:13)6“If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace[2] or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, (De 17:2; De 28:54; De 28:56; De 28:64; 1Sa 18:1; 1Sa 18:3; 1Sa 20:17; Mic 7:5)7some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, (De 6:14)8you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. (De 7:16; Pr 1:10)9But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. (De 17:7)10You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (De 17:5; Jos 7:25)11And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you. (De 17:13; De 19:20; De 21:21)12“If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there,13that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, (Jud 19:22; Jud 20:13; 1Sa 2:12; 1Sa 25:17; 2Sa 16:7; 2Sa 20:1; 1Ki 21:10; 1Ki 21:13)14then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, (De 17:4; De 19:18)15you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction,[3] all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword.16You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. (Jos 6:24; Jos 8:28; Isa 17:1; Isa 25:2; Jer 30:18; Jer 49:2)17None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, (Ge 50:24; Jos 6:18; Jos 7:26)18if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God. (De 12:25; De 12:28)
1[1] If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder,2and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’3you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.4It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.5That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.6If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known,7gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other),8do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them.9You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people.10Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.11Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no-one among you will do such an evil thing again.12If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in13that troublemakers have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ (gods you have not known),14then you must enquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you,15you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely,[2] both its people and its livestock.16You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. That town is to remain a ruin for ever, never to be rebuilt,17and none of the condemned things[3] are to be found in your hands. Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your ancestors –18because you obey the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.
Deuteronomy 13
King James Version
1If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,2And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;3Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.4Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.5And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.6If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;7Namely , of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;8Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:9But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.10And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.11And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.12If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,13Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;14Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;15Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.16And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.17And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;18When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.
1Suppose a prophet appears among you. Or someone comes who uses dreams to tell what’s going to happen. He tells you that a sign or something amazing is going to take place.2The sign or amazing thing he has spoken about might really take place. And then the prophet might say, ‘Let’s serve other gods. Let’s worship them.’ But you haven’t known anything about those gods before.3So you must not listen to what that prophet or dreamer has said. The LORD your God is testing you. He wants to know whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.4You must worship him. You must honour him. Keep his commands. Obey him. Serve him. Remain true to him.5That prophet or dreamer must be put to death. He told you not to obey the LORD your God. The LORD brought you out of Egypt. He set you free from the land where you were slaves. He commanded you to live the way he wants you to. But that prophet or dreamer has tried to get you to be unfaithful to the LORD. Get rid of that evil person.6Suppose your very own brother or sister secretly tempts you to do something wrong. Or your child or the wife you love tempts you. Or your closest friend does it. Suppose one of them says, ‘Let’s go and worship other gods.’ But you and your people of long ago hadn’t known anything about those gods before.7They are the gods of the nations around you. Those nations might be near or far away. In fact, they might reach from one end of the land to the other.8Don’t give in to those who are tempting you. Don’t listen to them. Don’t feel sorry for them. Don’t spare them or save them.9You must certainly put them to death. You must be the first to throw stones at them. Then all the people must do the same thing.10Put them to death by throwing stones at them. They tried to turn you away from the LORD your God. He brought you out of Egypt. That’s the land where you were slaves.11After you kill those who tempted you, all the Israelites will hear about it. And they will be too scared to do an evil thing like that again.12The LORD your God is giving you towns to live in. But suppose you hear something bad about one of those towns.13You hear that people who cause trouble have appeared among you. They’ve tried to get the people of their town to do something wrong. They’ve said, ‘Let’s go and worship other gods.’ But you haven’t known anything about those gods before.14So you must ask people some questions. You must check out the matter carefully. If it’s true, an evil thing has really happened among you. It’s something the LORD hates.15Then you must certainly kill with your swords everyone who lives in that town. You must destroy it completely. You must wipe out its people and livestock.16You must gather all the goods of that town into the middle of the main street. You must burn the town completely. You must burn up everything in it. It’s a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The town must remain a pile of stones for ever. It must never be built again.17Don’t keep anything that should be destroyed. Then the LORD will turn away from his great anger. He will show you mercy. He’ll have deep concern for you. He’ll cause there to be many of you. That’s what he promised your people of long ago. He gave his word when he made the promise.18The LORD your God will do those things if you obey him. I’m giving you his commands today. And you must obey all of them. You must do what is right in his eyes.