Deuteronomy 13

1 If ever you have among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he gives you a sign or a wonder,

If there rise in the midst of thee a prophet or one that saith he hath dreamed a dream, and he foretell a sign and a wonder,

2 And the sign or the wonder takes place, and he says to you, Let us go after other gods, which are strange to you, and give them worship;

And that come to pass which he spoke, and he say to thee: Let us go and follow strange gods, which thou knowest not, and let us serve them:

3 Then give no attention to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God is testing you, to see if all the love of your heart and soul is given to him.

Thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet or dreamer: for the Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love him with all your heart, and with all your soul, or not.

4 But keep on in the ways of the Lord your God, fearing him and keeping his orders and hearing his voice, worshipping him and being true to him.

Follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and hear his voice: him you shall serve, and to him you shall cleave.

5 And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams is to be put to death; for his words were said with the purpose of turning you away from the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt and made you free from the prison-house; and of forcing you out of the way in which the Lord your God has given you orders to go. So you are to put away the evil from among you.

And that prophet or forger of dreams shall be slain: because he spoke to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage: to make thee go out of the way, which the Lord thy God commanded thee: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee.

6 If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife of your heart, or the friend who is as dear to you as your life, working on you secretly says to you, Let us go and give worship to other gods, strange to you and to your fathers;

If thy brother the son of thy mother, or thy son, or daughter, or thy wife that is in thy bosom, or thy friend, whom thou lovest as thy own soul, would persuade thee secretly, saying: Let us go, and serve strange gods, which thou knowest not, nor thy fathers,

7 Gods of the peoples round about you, near or far, from one end of the earth to the other;

Of all the nations round about, that are near or afar off, from one end of the earth to the other,

8 Do not be guided by him or give attention to him; have no pity on him or mercy, and give him no cover;

Consent not to him, hear him not, neither let thy eye spare him to pity and conceal him,

9 But put him to death without question; let your hand be the first stretched out against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

But thou shalt presently put him to death. It Let thy hand be first upon him, and afterwards the hands of all the people.

10 Let him be stoned with stones till he is dead; because it was his purpose to make you false to the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house.

With stones shall he be stoned to death: because he would have withdrawn thee from the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage:

11 And all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear, and no one will again do such evil as this among you.

That all Israel hearing may fear, and may do no more any thing like this.

12 And if word comes to you, in one of the towns which the Lord your God is giving you for your resting-place,

If in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to dwell in, thou hear some say:

13 That good-for-nothing persons have gone out from among you, turning the people of their town from the right way and saying, Let us go and give worship to other gods, of whom you have no knowledge;

Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, and have said: Let us go, and serve strange gods which you know not:

14 Then let a full search be made, and let questions be put with care; and if it is true and certain that such a disgusting thing has been done among you;

Inquire carefully and diligently, the truth of the thing by looking well into it, and if thou find that which is said to be certain, and that this abomination hath been really committed,

15 Then take up arms against the people of that town and give it up to the curse, with all its cattle and everything in it.

Thou shalt forthwith kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, and shalt destroy it and all things that are in it, even the cattle.

16 And take all the goods into the middle of its open space, burning the town and all its property with fire as an offering to the Lord your God; it is to be a waste for ever; there is to be no more building there.

And all the household goods that are there, thou shalt gather together in the midst of the streets thereof, and shalt burn them with the city itself, so as to consume all for the Lord thy God, and that it be a heap for ever: it shall be built no more.

17 Keep not a thing of what is cursed for yourselves: so the Lord may be turned away from the heat of his wrath, and have mercy on you, and give you increase as he said in his oath to your fathers:

And there shall nothing of that anathema stick to thy hand: that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury, and may have mercy on thee, and multiply thee as he swore to thy fathers,

18 So long as you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and keep all his orders which I give you today, and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

When thou shalt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, keeping all his precepts, which I command thee this day, that thou mayst do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.