Deuteronomy Chapter 13

Moses delivered three farewell speeches just before he died. In them he recapitulated, with the people, all the laws of God for the Israelites. The name of the book expresses this "recap" or "second law".

A Conservative Version

13 : 1 If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives thee a sign or a wonder,

13 : 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou have not known, and let us serve them,

13 : 3 thou shall not hearken to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams, for Jehovah your God proves you, to know whether ye love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

13 : 4 Ye shall walk after Jehovah your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cling to him.

13 : 5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which Jehovah thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shall thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.

13 : 6 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 as thine own soul, entices thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou have not known, thou, nor thy fathers,

13 : 7 of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, near to thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth,

13 : 8 thou shall not consent to him, nor hearken to him. Neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shall thou spare, neither shall thou conceal him,

13 : 9 but thou shall surely kill him. Thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

13 : 10 And thou shall stone him to death with stones, because he has sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

13 : 11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall no more do any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee.

13 : 12 If thou shall hear tell concerning one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God gives thee to dwell there, saying,

13 : 13 Certain base fellows have gone out from the midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known,

13 : 14 then thou shall inquire, and make search, and ask diligently. And, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in the midst of thee,

13 : 15 thou shall surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is in it, and the cattle in it, with the edge of the sword.

13 : 16 And thou shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street of it, and shall burn the city with fire, and all the spoil of it, every whit, to Jehovah thy God, and it shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.

13 : 17 And nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to thy hand, that Jehovah may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he has sworn to thy fathers,

13 : 18 when thou shall hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.