Deuteronomy 13

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 as your own soul, 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 peoples who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth—

8 you shall not consent to him nor listen to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you 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 stones, 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.

12 If you hear about one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell there, that

13 certain wicked fellows have gone 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. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, 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 therein 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 with fire the city, 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 LORD your God’s voice, to keep all his commandments which I command you today, to do that which is right in the LORD your God’s eyes.

Around Deuteronomy 13

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

Deuteronomy 13 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

What if the miracle is real? Moses begins with the hardest case. A prophet or a dreamer of dreams gives a sign, the sign comes true, and then he says, Let us go after other gods. Israel is told not to listen. The LORD is testing whether they love him with all their heart and soul.

Then the circle tightens. The same temptation may come from a brother, a son, a daughter, the wife of your bosom, or a friend as close as your own soul. Israel is to give no consent and show no pity, and such a person is to be stoned to death.

Last comes a whole city led astray. Israel must inquire and investigate diligently. If the report is certain, the city is to be struck with the sword and burned, a heap forever, and nothing of the devoted thing is to cling to anyone's hand.

Background

This chapter reads like the treaties of its day, where loyalty to the one sovereign is the heart of the agreement, and here the sovereign is the LORD who brought Israel out of Egypt. These are some of the most severe laws in the Bible. Readers have long asked how they were applied, and the call to investigate carefully in verse 14 matters to that question. Christians and Jews read such laws differently, and many stress that the New Testament never calls for this kind of penalty.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 26 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

Report a mistake

CommunityVoices, not sources

Readers share what this chapter means to them in the app.

See what readers say about Deuteronomy 13

World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes