Deuteronomy 13
1 And if there arise within you a prophet, or one who dreams a dream, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,
If ever you have among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he gives you a sign or a wonder,
2 and the sign or the wonder come to pass which he spoke to you, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you know not;
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;
3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or the dreamer of that dream, because the Lord your God tries you, to know whether you love your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
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.
4 You shall follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and you shall hear his voice, and attach yourselves to him.
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.
5 And that prophet or that dreamer of a dream, shall die; for he has spoken to make you err from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, who redeemed you from bondage, to thrust you out of the way which the Lord your God commanded you to walk in: so shall you abolish the evil from among you.
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.
6 And if your brother by your father or mother, or your son, or daughter, or your wife in your bosom, or friend who is equal to your own soul, entreat you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known,
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;
7 of the gods of the nations that are round about you, who are near you or at a distance from you, from one end of the earth to the other;
Gods of the peoples round about you, near or far, from one end of the earth to the other;
8 you shall not consent to him, neither shall you listen to him; and your eye shall not spare him, you shall feel no regret for him, neither shall you at all protect him:
Do not be guided by him or give attention to him; have no pity on him or mercy, and give him no cover;
9 you shall surely report concerning him, and your hands shall be upon him among the first to kill him, and the hands of all the people at the last.
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.
10 And they shall stone him with stones, and he shall die, 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 bondage.
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.
11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall not again do according to this evil thing among you.
And all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear, and no one will again do such evil as this among you.
12 And if in one of your cities which the Lord God gives you to dwell therein, you shall hear men saying,
And if word comes to you, in one of the towns which the Lord your God is giving you for your resting-place,
13 Evil men have gone out from you, and have caused all the inhabitants of their land to fall away, saying, Let us go and worship other gods, whom you knew not,
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;
14 then you shall enquire and ask, and search diligently, and behold, [if] the thing is clearly true, and this abomination has taken place among you,
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;
15 you shall utterly destroy all the dwellers in that land with the edge of the sword; you shall solemnly curse it, and all things in it.
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.
16 And all its spoils you shall gather into its public ways, and you shall burn the city with fire, and all its spoils publicly before the Lord your God; and it shall be uninhabited for ever, it shall not be built again.
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.
17 And there shall nothing of the cursed thing cleave to your hand, that the Lord may turn from his fierce anger, and show you mercy, and pity you, and multiply you, as he sware to your fathers;
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:
18 if you will hear the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments, all that I charge you this day, to do that which is good and pleasing before the Lord your God.
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.
