Deuteronomy 13

Suppose a prophet, or someone who claims to get messages from God in dreams, shows up among you and promises you a sign or a wonder.

1If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

NoteA "sign or wonder" here means a predicted or marvelous event offered as proof that the speaker really carries a message from God. "Dreamer of dreams" is not mockery: dreams were a recognized channel for divine messages in the ancient world, so a dreamer was claiming the same kind of authority a prophet claimed.

2And suppose the sign or wonder he told you about actually happens, but then he says, "Let's follow other gods, gods you have not known, and let's worship them."

2And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;

Note"Gods you have not known" is an idiom. It does not mean gods whose names are unfamiliar, but gods you have had no dealings with, powers your people have never been bound to or worshiped.

3You must not listen to what that prophet or dreamer says. The LORD your God is testing you, to find out whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul.

3Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

NoteIn Hebrew, "heart" is the seat of thought, will and decision rather than feeling alone, and "soul" translates nephesh, the whole living self, breath, appetite, life. The pair means the entire person, inside and out.

4You are to follow the LORD your God and respect him deeply. Keep his commands, listen to his voice, serve him, and stay closely joined to him.

4Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

NoteThe word rendered "respect deeply" is the ordinary Hebrew word for fear, used of the awe owed to a king or a god; it covers dread and reverence at once. "Stay closely joined" translates a word meaning to stick or be glued to something, the same word used in Genesis 2:24 of a man joined to his wife.

5That prophet or dreamer must be put to death. He urged you to turn away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and bought your freedom from the place where you were slaves. He tried to push you off the path the LORD your God commanded you to walk. In this way you will remove the evil from among you.

5And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken 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 the evil away from the midst of thee.

Note"Bought your freedom" translates a word from family and commercial law: to buy something back, or to buy a relative out of slavery. "The place where you were slaves" is literally "house of slaves," a standing description of Egypt. "Remove the evil from among you" is a set formula closing several laws in Deuteronomy; it means removing the offense by removing the offender.

6Suppose someone close to you quietly tries to talk you into it. It may be your own brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you hold close, or the friend you love as your own life. He says, "Let's go and serve other gods," gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known.

6If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

Note"Your own brother, your mother's son" specifies a full brother. In a household where a man might have more than one wife, sharing a mother marked the closest possible tie. "The wife you hold close" is literally "the wife of your bosom," an idiom for the wife who sleeps at your side. The list moves through the people whose word would carry the most weight with you.

7He means the gods of the peoples around you, whether they live near you or far away, from one end of the earth to the other.

7Namely, 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;

8You must not agree with him or listen to him. Do not look at him with pity, do not spare him, and do not hide what he did.

8Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:

Note"Do not look at him with pity" is literally "your eye shall not pity him," a Hebrew idiom for letting the sight of someone soften you out of a duty you are bound to carry out.

9Instead, you must certainly put him to death. Your own hand must be the first one raised against him, and then the hands of all the people.

9But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

NoteThat the accuser's hand strikes first is a rule stated elsewhere in Deuteronomy (17:7) for witnesses in a capital case. The person bringing the charge had to lead the execution, which staked his own standing (and, under other laws, his life) on the charge being true. "Then the hands of all the people" makes the act the community's, not one man's.

10You are to stone him until he dies, because he tried to drag you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place where you were slaves.

10And 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.

NoteStoning was a public execution carried out by a crowd rather than an appointed executioner, so responsibility for the death fell on the whole community and no single person bore it alone.

11Then all Israel will hear about it and be afraid, and no one among you will do such a wicked thing again.

11And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.

12Suppose you hear a report about one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you to live in.

12If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,

13The report says that worthless men have come out from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, "Let's go and serve other gods," gods you have not known.

13Certain men, the children 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;

Note"Worthless men" translates the Hebrew phrase "sons of Belial." At this stage Belial is not a name but a common noun meaning something like worthlessness or ruin, so the phrase means good-for-nothings or scoundrels. Only in much later Jewish and Christian writings does Belial become the proper name of an evil figure.

14Then you must look into it, search it out, and question people carefully. If it turns out to be true and the facts are certain, that this hateful thing has really been done among you,

14Then 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;

NoteThe three verbs (look into, search out, question) form a legal formula demanding a thorough investigation before anything is done, and "the facts are certain" is courtroom language for a charge that has been established. "Hateful thing" translates to'ebah, a strong word for what is detestable or taboo, used especially of foreign worship.

15then you must certainly strike down the people who live in that city with the sword. Destroy it completely, along with everything in it and its livestock, with the sword.

15Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

Note"Destroy it completely" translates the Hebrew herem: devoting something to God by putting it permanently beyond human use, which in wartime meant killing the inhabitants and livestock and taking nothing for yourself. Elsewhere in Deuteronomy this is commanded against Canaanite cities; here the same treatment is turned on an Israelite one.

16Gather everything you took from the city into the middle of its public square. Then burn the city and everything taken from it, all of it, as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city is to stay a pile of ruins forever, and it must never be rebuilt.

16And 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 heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

NoteThe "public square" is the open space, usually just inside the city gate, where a town's business and legal cases were conducted. "Whole burnt offering" translates a word for a sacrifice burned up entirely, with no portion kept back for the priests or the worshiper. "A pile of ruins forever" renders the Hebrew word for a tell, the artificial mound left where an abandoned city once stood, a familiar feature of the landscape.

17None of the things set apart for destruction may stick to your hands. Then the LORD will turn away from his burning anger, and he will show you mercy, treat you with compassion, and make you many, just as he promised your ancestors with an oath.

17And there shall cleave nought of the 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;

Note"The things set apart for destruction" is the same word, herem, used in verse 15: goods placed under the ban and forbidden to anyone. "Stick to your hands" is an idiom for keeping or pocketing part of it. "Promised your ancestors with an oath" refers to the sworn promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their descendants would become numerous.

18This will happen because you listen to the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today, and doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

18When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.