1If there arises in your midst a prophet or a dreamer of a dream, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,
2and the sign or the wonder comes about which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—whom you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’
3you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of the dream, for Yahweh your God is testing you, to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your self.
4After Yahweh your God you shall walk, and him you shall fear; and his commandments you shall keep, and to his voice you shall listen; and him you shall serve, and to him you shall cling.
5And that prophet or that dreamer of the dream shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your God—who brought you out from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slaves—to drive you away from the way in which Yahweh your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
6If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own self, entices you in secret, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’—whom you have not known, you or your fathers,
7from the gods of the peoples who are all around you, near to you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth—
8you shall not consent to him and you shall not listen to him; and your eye shall not spare him, and you shall not pity him, and you shall not cover for him.
9But you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be against him first, to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.
10And you shall stone him with stones so that he dies, because he sought to drive you away from Yahweh your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves.
11And all Israel shall hear and shall fear, and they shall not again do according to this evil thing in your midst.
12If you hear, in one of your cities that Yahweh your God is giving you to dwell there, saying,
13Certain men, sons of worthlessness, have gone out from your midst and have led astray the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom you have not known,
14then you shall seek out and investigate and inquire thoroughly; and behold, the matter is true and certain, this abomination has been done in your midst,
15you shall surely strike down the inhabitants of that city by the edge of the sword—devoting it to destruction, it and all that is in it and its cattle, by the edge of the sword.
16And all its spoil you shall gather into the midst of its open square, and you shall burn with fire the city and all its spoil entirely, to Yahweh your God; and it shall be a ruin-mound forever, never to be rebuilt again.
17And nothing of what is devoted to destruction shall cling to your hand, so that Yahweh may turn from the burning of his anger and give you compassion, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers—
18when you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all his commandments that I am commanding you today, to do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.
Open in the interactive reader →