Deuteronomy 13

1 “When a prophet or a dreamer of a dream arises in your midst, and he has given a sign or wonder to you,

“If there will have arisen in your midst a prophet, or someone who claims that he had seen a dream, and if he will have predicted sign and portent,

2 and the sign and the wonder has come to pass, which he has spoken of to you, saying, Let us go after other gods (which you have not known) and serve them,

and if what he has spoken happens, and he says to you, ‘Let us go and follow strange gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’

3 you do not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of the dream, for your God YHWH is trying you to know whether you are loving your God YHWH with all your heart and with all your soul;

you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the Lord your God is testing you, so that it may become clear whether or not you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

4 you walk after your God YHWH, and you fear Him, and you keep His commands, and you listen to His voice, and you serve Him, and you cleave to Him.

Follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and listen to his voice. Him shall you serve, and to him shall you cling.

5 And that prophet or that dreamer of the dream is put to death, for he has spoken apostasy against your God YHWH (who is bringing you out of the land of Egypt, and has ransomed you out of a house of servants), to drive you out of the way in which your God YHWH has commanded you to walk, and you have put away evil from your midst.

But that prophet or forger of dreams shall be put to death. For he has spoken so as to turn you away from the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt and who redeemed you from the house of servitude, and so as to cause you to wander from the way that the Lord your God has entrusted to you. And so shall you remove the evil from your midst.

6 When your brother, son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who [is] as your own soul, moves you in secret, saying, Let us go and serve other gods (which you have not known, you and your fathers,

If your brother, the son of your mother, or your own son or daughter, or your wife who is in your bosom, or your friend, whom you love like your own soul, were willing to persuade you secretly, saying: ‘Let us go, and serve foreign gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known,

7 of the gods of the peoples who [are] around you, who are near to you, or who are far off from you, from the end of the earth even to the [other] end of the earth),

gods from any of the surrounding nations, whether these are near or far away, from the beginning even to the end of the earth,

8 you do not consent to him, nor listen to him, nor does your eye have pity on him, nor do you spare, nor do you cover him over.

you should neither agree with him, nor listen to him. And your eye should not spare him so that you take pity on him and conceal him.

9 But you surely kill him; your hand is on him in the first place to put him to death, and the hand of all the people last;

Instead, you shall put him to death promptly. Let your hand be upon him first, and after that, let the hands of all the people be sent forth.

10 and you have stoned him with stones and he has died, for he has sought to drive you away from your God YHWH, who is bringing you out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of servants;

He shall be killed by being overwhelmed with stones. For he was willing to draw you away from the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude.

11 and all Israel hears and fears, and does not add to do like this evil thing in your midst.

So may all of Israel, upon hearing this, be afraid, so that nothing like this will ever be done again.

12 When you hear [someone] in one of your cities, which your God YHWH is giving to you to dwell there, saying,

If, in one of your cities which the Lord your God will give to you as a habitation, you hear someone say:

13 Men, sons of worthlessness, have gone out of your midst, and they force away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods (which you have not known),

‘The sons of Belial have departed from your midst, and they have persuaded the inhabitants of their city, and they have said: “Let us go, and serve strange gods,”’ which you have not known:

14 then you have inquired, and searched, and asked diligently, and behold, [if] truth, the thing is established; this abomination has been done in your midst—

inquire carefully and diligently, seeking the truth of the matter. And if you find that what was said is certain, and that this abomination is a work which has been perpetrated,

15 you surely strike the inhabitants of that city by the mouth of the sword, devoting it and all that [is] in it, even its livestock, by the mouth of the sword.

you shall promptly strike down the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. And you shall destroy it, along with all the things that are in it, even the flocks.

16 And you gather all its spoil into the midst of its broad place, and have completely burned the city and all its spoil with fire for your God YHWH, and it has been a continuous heap, it is not built anymore;

Then all the household goods which are there, you shall gather together in the midst of its streets, and you shall set fire to these, along with the city itself, so that you may consume everything for the Lord your God, and so that it may be an everlasting tomb. It shall no longer be built up.

17 and nothing from any of that [which is] devoted stays in your hand, so that YHWH turns back from the fierceness of His anger, and has given mercies to you, and loved you, and multiplied you, as He has sworn to your fathers,

And there shall remain nothing of that anathema in your hand, so that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury, and may take pity on you, and may multiply you, just as he swore to your fathers,

18 because you listen to the voice of your God YHWH, to keep all his commands which I am commanding you today, to do that which [is] right in the eyes of your God YHWH.”

when you will heed the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his precepts, which I am entrusting to you this day, so that you may do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.”