Deuteronomy 13

Warning Against Idolatry

1 "If there arises among you a prophet or a a dreamer of dreams, b and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 "and c the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods' - which you have not known - 'and let us serve them,' 3 "you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God d is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 "You shall e walk 1 after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and f hold fast to Him. 5 "But g that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. h So you shall 2 put away the evil from your midst.

6 i "If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, j the wife 3 of your bosom, or your friend k who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, 7 "of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, 8 "you shall l not 4 consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; 9 "but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to m death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 "And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 "So all Israel shall hear and n fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.

12 o "If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell in, saying, 13 5 'Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods" ' - which you have not known - 14 "then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an 6 abomination was committed among you, 15 "you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock - with the edge of the sword. 16 "And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and 7 completely p burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the LORD your God. It shall be q a 8 heap forever; it shall not be built again. 17 r "So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the LORD may s turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and 9 multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, 18 "because you have listened to the voice of the LORD your God, t to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

  1. Cross References
    Numbers 12:6
    Then He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.
    Jeremiah 23:28
    The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?" says the LORD.
    Zechariah 10:2
    For the idols speak delusion; The diviners envision lies, And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep; They are in trouble because there is no shepherd.
  2. Cross References
    Matthew 24:24
    For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
    Mark 13:22
    For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
    2 Thessalonians 2:9
    The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders.
  3. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 18:22
    When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
  4. Cross References
    Exodus 20:20
    And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.
    Deuteronomy 8:2
    And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
    Deuteronomy 8:16
    Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end -
  5. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 10:12
    And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
    Deuteronomy 10:20
    You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.
    2 Kings 23:3
    Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.
  6. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 30:20
    "that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
  7. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 18:20
    'But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'
    Jeremiah 14:15
    Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land' - 'By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed!
  8. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 17:5
    Then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones.
    Deuteronomy 17:7
    The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
    1 Corinthians 5:13
    But those who are outside God judges. Therefore "put away from yourselves the evil person.
  9. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 17:2
    If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing His covenant.
  10. Cross References
    Genesis 16:5
    Then Sarai said to Abram, "My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The LORD judge between you and me.
  11. Cross References
    1 Samuel 18:1
    Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
    1 Samuel 18:3
    Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
  12. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:16
    Also you shall destroy all the peoples whom the LORD your God delivers over to you; your eye shall have no pity on them; nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
    Proverbs 1:10
    My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.
  13. Cross References
    Leviticus 24:14
    Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
    Deuteronomy 17:7
    The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
  14. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 17:13
    And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.
  15. Cross References
    Judges 20:1 - 48
    So all the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
  16. Cross References
    Joshua 6:24
    But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
  17. Cross References
    Joshua 8:28
    So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day.
    Isaiah 17:1
    The burden against Damascus. "Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap.
    Isaiah 25:2
    For You have made a city a ruin, A fortified city a ruin, A palace of foreigners to be a city no more; It will never be rebuilt.
    Jeremiah 49:2
    Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "That I will cause to be heard an alarm of war In Rabbah of the Ammonites; It shall be a desolate mound, And her villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall take possession of his inheritance," says the LORD.
  18. Cross References
    Joshua 6:18
    And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
  19. Cross References
    Joshua 7:26
    Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.
  20. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 12:25
    You shall not eat it, that it may go well with you and your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD.
    Deuteronomy 12:28
    Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.
    Deuteronomy 12:32
    Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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