Deuteronomy 13

1 “Possibly there will be people among you who [say that they] are prophets. They may say that they are able to interpret the meaning of dreams or perform various kinds of miracles [DOU].

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

2 They will say those things in order to induce/persuade you to worship gods that you have never known about before. But even if what they predict happens,

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 do not pay attention to what they say. Yahweh our God will be testing you to find out if you love him with all your inner being.

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 must conduct your lives as Yahweh our God wants you to, and you must revere him, and do what he tells you to do [MTY], and worship only him, and (be faithful to/have a close relationship with) 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 “But you must execute anyone who [falsely says that he] is a prophet, or someone who [falsely] says that he can interpret dreams, or who tells you to rebel against Yahweh our God, who rescued your ancestors from being slaves in Egypt. People like that are only wanting to cause you to stop conducting your lives as Yahweh has commanded you to do. Execute them, to get rid of this evil 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 It does not matter if even your brother or your daughter or your wife or some close/dear friend secretly urges you, saying ‘Let’s worship other gods. They are gods which you or your ancestors have never known about.

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 Some of them may encourage you to worship gods that people-groups that live near you worship, or gods that groups who live far away worship.

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

8 Do not [SYN] do what they suggest. Do not even listen to them. Do not even be merciful to them, and do not keep secret what they have done.

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

9 Execute them! You [who are their relative] must be the first one to [throw stones at them to] kill them, and then let everyone else [MTY] throw stones at them, too.

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 Kill such people by throwing stones at them, because they are trying to cause you to stop worshiping Yahweh our God, who rescued your ancestors from being slaves in Egypt.

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 When they are executed, all the Israeli people will hear [what happened], and they will become afraid, and none of them will do such an evil thing again.

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

12 “When you are living in one of the towns in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, you may hear

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

13 that some worthless people there among you [IDM] are deceiving the people of their town, saying, ‘Let’s go and worship other gods,’ but they are gods that you have never heard about before.

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 Investigate it thoroughly/carefully. If [you find out that] it is true that such a disgraceful thing has happened,

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 kill all the people in that town. And kill all their livestock, too. Destroy the town completely.

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 Gather all the possessions that belonged to the people who lived there and pile them up in the city plaza. Then burn the town and everything in it, as though it were an offering to Yahweh that would be completely burned [on the altar]. The ruins/ashes must stay there forever; the town must never be rebuilt.

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 None of you Israelis must take for yourselves [IDM] anything that Yahweh has said must be destroyed. But if you do what I say, Yahweh will stop being angry with you, and he will act mercifully toward you. And he will cause you to have many children/descendants, which is what he promised our ancestors that he would do.

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 Yahweh our God will do all those things if you do what he is telling you to do, and if you obey all the commandments that I am giving to you today and do what Yahweh says is right [for you to do].”

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.