Deuteronomy 13
13
How Israel Is to Deal with False Prophets
1 # 13:1
Deuteronomy 13:1–18
in English Bibles is Deuteronomy 13:2–19 in the Hebrew Bible. One of your people, claiming to be a prophet or to have prophetic dreams, may predict a miraculous sign or an amazing thing. 2What he predicts may even take place. But don’t listen to that prophet or dreamer #13:2 The first part of verse 3 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 2 to express the complex Hebrew paragraph structure more clearly in English. if he says, “Let’s worship and serve other gods.” (Those gods may be gods you’ve never heard of.) 3The Lord your God is testing you to find out if you really love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4Worship the Lord your God, fear him, obey his commands, listen to what he says, serve him, and be loyal to him. 5That prophet or dreamer must be put to death because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and freed you from slavery. He was trying to lead you away from following the directions the Lord your God gave you. You must get rid of this evil.
6Your own brother, son, or daughter, the wife you love, or your best friend may secretly tempt you, saying, “Let’s go worship other gods.” (Those gods may be gods that you and your ancestors never knew. 7They may be the gods of the people around you, who live near or far, from one end of the land to the other.) 8Don’t be influenced by any of these people or listen to them. Have no pity on them. Don’t feel sorry for them or protect them. 9You must put them to death. You must start the execution. Then all the other people will join you in putting them to death. 10Stone them to death because they were trying to lead you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. 11All Israel will hear about it and be afraid. Then no one among you will ever do such a wicked thing again.
12You may hear that the residents in one of the cities which the Lord your God is giving you to live in 13have been led away from the Lord your God by worthless people. You may hear that these people have been saying, “Let’s worship other gods.” (Those gods may be gods you’ve never heard of.) 14Then make a thorough investigation. If it is true, and you can prove that this disgusting thing has been done among you, 15you must kill the residents of that city with swords and destroy that city and everyone in it, including the animals, because they are claimed by God. 16Gather their goods into the middle of the city square. Then burn their city and all their goods as a burnt offering to the Lord your God. It must remain a mound of ruins and never be rebuilt. 17Don’t ever take any of the things claimed for destruction. Then the Lord will stop being angry and will show you mercy. In his mercy he will make your population increase, as he swore to your ancestors. 18The Lord your God will do this if you listen to him, obey all the commands that I’m giving you today, and do what he considers right.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Deuteronomy 13
13
Do Not Worship Other Gods
1Suppose a prophet appears among you. Or someone comes who uses dreams to tell what’s going to happen. He tells you that a sign or something amazing is going to take place. 2The sign or amazing thing he has spoken about might really take place. And then the prophet might say, “Let’s serve other gods. Let’s worship them.” But you haven’t known anything about those gods before. 3So you must not listen to what that prophet or dreamer has said. The Lord your God is testing you. He wants to know whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4You must worship him. You must honor him. Keep his commands. Obey him. Serve him. Remain true to him. 5That prophet or dreamer must be put to death. He told you not to obey the Lord your God. The Lord brought you out of Egypt. He set you free from the land where you were slaves. He commanded you to live the way he wants you to. But that prophet or dreamer has tried to get you to be unfaithful to the Lord. Get rid of that evil person.
6Suppose your very own brother or sister secretly tempts you to do something wrong. Or your child or the wife you love tempts you. Or your closest friend does it. Suppose one of them says, “Let’s go and worship other gods.” But you and your people of long ago hadn’t known anything about those gods before. 7They are the gods of the nations around you. Those nations might be near or far away. In fact, they might reach from one end of the land to the other. 8Don’t give in to those who are tempting you. Don’t listen to them. Don’t feel sorry for them. Don’t spare them or save them. 9You must certainly put them to death. You must be the first to throw stones at them. Then all the people must do the same thing. 10Put them to death by throwing stones at them. They tried to turn you away from the Lord your God. He brought you out of Egypt. That’s the land where you were slaves. 11After you kill those who tempted you, all the Israelites will hear about it. And they will be too scared to do an evil thing like that again.
12The Lord your God is giving you towns to live in. But suppose you hear something bad about one of those towns. 13You hear that people who cause trouble have appeared among you. They’ve tried to get the people of their town to do something wrong. They’ve said, “Let’s go and worship other gods.” But you haven’t known anything about those gods before. 14So you must ask people some questions. You must check out the matter carefully. If it’s true, an evil thing has really happened among you. It’s something the Lord hates. 15Then you must certainly kill with your swords everyone who lives in that town. You must destroy it completely. You must wipe out its people and livestock. 16You must gather all the goods of that town into the middle of the main street. You must burn the town completely. You must burn up everything in it. It’s a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. The town must remain a pile of stones forever. It must never be built again. 17Don’t keep anything that should be destroyed. Then the Lord will turn away from his great anger. He will show you mercy. He’ll have deep concern for you. He’ll cause there to be many of you. That’s what he promised your people of long ago. He gave his word when he made the promise. 18The Lord your God will do those things if you obey him. I’m giving you his commands today. And you must obey all of them. You must do what is right in his eyes.
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