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a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or a wonder to you, 2 and is that sign or wonder he has promised you takes place, but he says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods that you have not known), ‘and let us worship them’, 3 you must not take heed of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you, to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You must follow the Lord your God and fear Him. His commands you must keep, and His voice you must obey; Him you must serve, and Him you must hold fast to. 5 That prophet or dreamer of dreams must be put to death, because he has preached rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way that the Lord your God commanded you to walk. You must purge the evil from among you.
6 “If your brother, the son of your motherℝ, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your most intimate friend, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’—which neither you nor your fathers have known; 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether nearby or far away from you, from one end of the earth to the other— 8 you must not yield to him or listen to him. Do not let your eye pity him, and do not spare him or shield him. 9 You must certainly put him to death. Your own hand is to be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 You must stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will ever again do such wickedness again.
12 “If you hear it said about one of your cities that the Lord your God is giving you to live in, 13 that worthless men have arisen among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’, gods that you have not known; 14 then you are to inquire, search out, and investigate it thoroughly. If the report is true and this detestable thing really has been done among you, 15 then you must strike down the people of that city with the sword. Completely destroy it, along with its livestock and everything in it with the sword. 16 You must gather up all the plunder of the city into the middle of the city square and completely burn the city and all its plunder with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, and it must never be rebuilt. 17 None of those condemned things set apart for destruction shall remain in your hand, so that the Lord will turn away from His fierce anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you, as He swore on oath to your forefathers, 18 because you have heeded the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all His commands that I am giving you today, by doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.”