THE FIFTH BOOK OF
MOSES,
called
D E U T E R O N O M Y
Deuteronomy 13 ©
How the people of God were to demean themselves towards a false prophet, who would seek to turn them away from the true God, v. 1, etc. As also towards others, even their nearest and best friends who would entice them to idolatry, 6. Likewise towards a city that became apostate, 12.
IF there arise among you a 1prophet, or a 2dreamer of dreams, and 3giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
4And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us 5go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God 6proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, anda ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be putb to death; because he hath 7spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put 8the evil away from the midst of thee.
¶If thy brother,c9the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife 10of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is 11as thine own soul, 12entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
But thou shalt 13surely kill him; thined hand shall be 14first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
And alle Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such 15wickedness as this is among you.
¶If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
Certain men, the 16children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;
Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;
Thou shalt 17surely smite the inhabitants of that city 18with the edge of the sword, 19destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.
And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an 20heap for ever; it shall not be built again.
21And there shall cleave nought of 22the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;
When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do 23that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.