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 there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he giveth thee a sign or a token,

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 token come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou dost not know, and let us serve them:

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 shalt thou not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

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.

After the Lord your God shall ye walk, and him shall ye fear, and his commandments shall ye keep, and his voice shall ye obey, and him shall ye serve, and unto him shall ye cleave.

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, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken revolt against the Lord your God, who hath brought you out of the land of Egypt, and who hath redeemed you out of the house of bond-men, to mislead thee front the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk therein; and thou shalt put the evil away from the midst of thee.

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 thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, who is [dear to thee] as thy own soul, should entice thee, in secret, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou dost not know, either thou, or thy 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.

Some of the gods of the nations which are round about you, that are nigh unto thee, or that are far off from thee, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth:

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.

Then shalt thou not consent unto him, nor shalt thou hearken unto him; nor shall thy eye look with pity on him, nor shalt thou spare, nor shalt thou conceal it for him;

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 thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be the first upon him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people afterward.

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.

And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he sought to mislead thee from the Lord thy God, who hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bond-men.

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 shall hear it, and they shall be afraid, and they shall not do any more such a wicked deed as this is in the midst of thee.

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

If thou shouldst hear concerning one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,

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.

There have gone forth men, children of worthlessness, from the midst of thee, and have misled the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known:

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

Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be true, the thing is certain, such abomination hath been wrought in the midst of thee:

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

Then shalt thou smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, devoting it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, to the edge of the sword.

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 all its spoil shalt thou gather into the midst of the market-place thereof, and thou shalt burn with fire the city, and all its spoil entirely, unto the Lord thy God; and it shall be a ruinous heap for ever: it shall not be built again.

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.

And there shall not cleave to thy hand aught of the devoted things; in order that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and grant thee mercy, and have mercy upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy 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].”

When thou wilt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God.