Idolaters to be Put to Death

¹ If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let’s go after other gods” (which you have not known) “and let’s serve them,” ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall walk after the Lord your God, fear him, keep his commandments, and obey his voice. You shall serve him, and cling to him. ⁵ That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which the Lord your God commanded you to walk in. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

⁶ If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is like your own soul to you, entices you secretly, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods”—which you have not known, you, nor your fathers, ⁷ of the gods of the people who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other end of the earth— ⁸ you shall not consent to him nor listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him; ⁹ but you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first on him to put him to death and afterwards the hands of all the people. ¹⁰ You shall stone him to death with rocks because he has sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹¹ All Israel shall hear and fear, and shall not do any more wickedness like this among you.

Idolatrous Cities to be Destroyed

¹² If you hear about one of your cities, in which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell, that ¹³ certain wicked men have come out from among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods,” which you have not known, ¹⁴ then you shall inquire, investigate, and ask diligently. If you are certain this is true, that such abomination was done among you, ¹⁵ you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, with all that is in it and its livestock, with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶ You shall gather all its plunder into the middle of its street and shall burn the city with fire, with all of its plunder, to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. ¹⁷ Nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to your hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers, ¹⁸ when you listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep all his commandments which I am giving you today, to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

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