< 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 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 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 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 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;
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 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 hear his voice: him you shall serve, and to him you shall cleave.
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.
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 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 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 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),
Of all the nations round about, that are near or afar off, from one end of the earth to the other,
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.
Consent not to him, hear him not, neither let thy eye spare him to pity 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;
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 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;
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 hears and fears, and does not add to do like this evil thing in your midst.
That all Israel hearing may fear, and may do no more any thing like this.
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 thy cities, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to dwell in, thou hear some 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),
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 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, 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 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.
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 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;
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 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 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 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 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.

< Deuteronomy 13 >