Deuteronomy 13
13
Don’t Serve Other Gods
1“A prophet or someone who explains dreams might come to you and tell you that they will show you a sign or a miracle. 2And the sign or miracle they told you about might come true. Then they might ask you to follow other gods (gods you don’t know) and say to you, ‘Let’s serve these gods!’ 3Don’t listen to them, because the Lord your God is testing you. He wants to know if you love him with all your heart and all your soul. 4You must follow the Lord your God. Respect him. Obey his commands and do what he tells you. Serve the Lord your God, and never leave him. 5Also, you must kill that prophet or person who explains dreams, because they told you to turn against the Lord your God. And it was the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. They tried to pull you away from the life he commanded you to live, so you must kill them to remove this evil from your people.
6“Someone close to you might secretly persuade you to worship other gods. It might be your own brother, your son, your daughter, the wife you love, or your closest friend. They might say, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods.’ (These are gods that you and your ancestors never knew. 7They are the gods of the people who live in the other lands around you, some near and some far away.) 8You must not agree with them. Don’t listen to them or feel sorry for them. Don’t let them go free or protect them. 9-10No, you must kill them with stones. You be the first one to pick up stones and throw at them. Then everyone must throw stones to kill them, because they tried to pull you away from the Lord your God. And it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. 11Then all the Israelites will hear about it and be afraid. And they will not do those evil things anymore.
12“The Lord your God has given you cities to live in. Sometimes you might hear some bad news about one of these cities. You might hear that 13some troublemakers from your own nation are persuading the people of their city to do bad things. They might say to the people of their city, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods.’ (These gods would be gods that you never knew before.) 14If you hear this kind of news, you must do all you can to learn if it is true. If you learn that it is true, if you prove that such a terrible thing really did happen, 15then you must kill all the people of that city and their animals too. You must destroy that city completely. 16You must gather up everything of value and take it to the center of the city. Burn the whole city and everything in it as a burnt offering to the Lord your God. You must turn that city into an empty pile of rocks forever, and that city must never be rebuilt. 17Everything in that city must be destroyed as an offering to God. So you must not keep any of the things for yourselves. If you follow this command, the Lord will stop being so angry with you. He will be kind to you. He will feel sorry for you. He will let your nation grow larger, as he promised your ancestors. 18This will happen if you listen to the Lord your God—if you obey all his commands that I give you today. You must do what the Lord your God says is right.
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Deuteronomy 13: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Deuteronomy 13
13
1“If a prophet or #Jer. 23:25, 32; 27:9; 29:8; Zech. 10:2a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2and #[ch. 18:22; Jer. 28:9]the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God #ch. 8:2is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4You shall #2 Kgs. 23:3; 2 Chr. 34:31 walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and #See ch. 10:20hold fast to him. 5But #ch. 18:20; [Jer. 2:8; 14:14, 15; Zech. 13:3] that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. #ch. 17:7; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21; 24:7; [1 Cor. 5:13]So you shall purge the evil#13:5 Or evil person from your midst.
6 # ch. 17:2 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or #ch. 28:54, 56; Mic. 7:5 the wife you embrace#13:6 Hebrew the wife of your bosom or your friend #[1 Sam. 18:1, 3; 20:17] who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ #ch. 28:64which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7some #ch. 6:14of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8you shall #Prov. 1:10 not yield to him or listen to him, nor #See ch. 7:16shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9But you shall kill him. #ch. 17:7Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10#ch. 17:5; See Josh. 7:25You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11And #ch. 17:13; 19:20; 21:21all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.
12“If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, 13that certain #Judg. 19:22; 20:13; 1 Sam. 2:12; 25:17; 2 Sam. 16:7; 20:1; 1 Kgs. 21:10, 13worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, 14then you shall inquire and make search and ask #ch. 17:4; 19:18diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, 15you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction,#13:15 That is, setting apart (devoting) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction) all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and #Josh. 6:24 burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a #Josh. 8:28; Jer. 49:2; [Isa. 17:1; 25:2; Jer. 30:18]heap forever. It shall not be built again. 17#Josh. 6:18 None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, #Josh. 7:26 that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, #See Gen. 50:24as he swore to your fathers, 18if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, #ch. 12:25, 28keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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