Deuteronomy 13
1 If a prophete risith in the myddis of thee, ethir he that seith hym silf to haue seyn a dreem, and he biforseith a signe and a wondur to comynge aftir,
“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].
2 and this that he spak bifallith, and he seith to thee, Go we, and sue alien goddis, whiche thou knowist not, and serue we hem,
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,
3 thou schalt not here the wordis of that prophete, ether of dremere; for youre Lord God assaieth you, that he wite opynli whether ye louen hym ether nay, in al youre herte, and in al youre soule.
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.
4 Sue ye youre Lord, and `drede ye hym; kepe ye his comaundementis, and here ye `the vois of hym; ye schulen serue hym, and ye schulen cleue to hym.
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.
5 Forsothe thilke prophete, ether the feynere of dremes, schal be slayn; for he spak that he schulde turne you awei fro youre Lord God, that ladde you out of the lond of Egipt, and ayenbouyte you fro the hous of seruage, that `thilke prophete schulde make thee to erre fro the weie which thi Lord God comaundide to thee; and thou schalt do awey yuel fro the myddis of thee.
“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.
6 If thi brothir, the sone of thi modir, ether thi sone, ethir thi douyter, ether the wijf which is in thi bosum, ethir thi freend whom thou louest as thi soule, wole counsele thee, and seith priueli, Go we and serue alien goddis, whiche thou knowist not,
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.
7 and thi fadris, of alle the folkis `in cumpas, that ben niy ether fer, fro the bigynnyng `til to the ende of the lond,
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.
8 assente thou not to hym, nether here thou, nether thin iyen spare hym, that thou haue mercy,
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.
9 and hide hym, but anoon thou schalt sle hym. Thin hond be fyrst on him and aftir thee al the puple putte to hond.
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.
10 He schal be oppressid with stoonus, and `schal be slayn; for he wolde drawe thee awei fro thi Lord God, that ledde thee out of the lond of Egipt, fro the hous of seruage,
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.
11 that al Israel here and drede, and do no more ony thing lijk this thing.
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.
12 If thou herist ony men seiynge in oon of thi citees, whiche thi Lord God schal yyue to thee to enhabite,
“When you are living in one of the towns in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, you may hear
13 The sones of Belial yeden out fro the myddis of thee, and turneden awei the dwelleris of the citee, and seiden, Go we, and serue alien goddis whiche ye knowen not,
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.
14 enquere thou bisili, and whanne the treuthe of the thing is biholdun diligentli, if thou fyndist that this thing is certeyn, which is seid, and that this abhominacioun is doon in werk,
Investigate it thoroughly/carefully. If [you find out that] it is true that such a disgraceful thing has happened,
15 anoon thou schalt smyte the dwelleris of that citee bi the scharpnesse of swerd, and thou schalt `do it awey, and alle thingis that ben ther ynne, `til to beestis.
kill all the people in that town. And kill all their livestock, too. Destroy the town completely.
16 Also what euer thing of purtenaunce of houshold is, thou schalt gadere in the myddis of the stretis therof, and thou schalt brenne with that citee, so that thou waste alle thingis to thi Lord God, and it be a biriel euerlastynge; it schal no more be bildid.
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.
17 And no thing of that cursyng schal cleue in thin hond, that the Lord be turned awei fro the yre of his strong veniaunce, and haue mercy on thee, and multiplie thee, as he swoor to thi fadris.
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.
18 Whanne thou hast herd the vois of thi Lord God, thou schalt kepe alle hise heestis whiche Y comaunde to thee to day, that thou do that that is plesaunt in the siyt of thi Lord God.
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].”
