Deuteronomy 13

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

²⁵“I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’

²⁶How long will this continue in the hearts of these prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the delusion of their own minds?

⁸For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them.

¹⁸Then the prophet replied, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The old prophet was lying to him,

⁹But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’

¹⁵The head is the elder and honorable man, and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies.

¹³And the second beast performed great signs, even causing fire from heaven to come down to earth in the presence of the people.

¹⁴Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived.

¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

¹⁴And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

⁹The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,

¹⁰and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.

²⁴For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.

²²Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

²³Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

²²When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

²Remember that these forty years the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.

¹⁰For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.

¹⁹And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.

⁵And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

¹⁴Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived.

¹⁰so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

²⁰You are to fear the Lord your God and serve Him. Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name.

¹⁷But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.

²³but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you.

³¹So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book.

³So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.

²⁰But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.”

¹³God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

²¹she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.

¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who prophesy in My name: I did not send them, yet they say, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end!

¹⁹you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you.

¹⁰Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

²If a man or woman among you in one of the towns that the Lord your God gives you is found doing evil in the sight of the Lord your God by transgressing His covenant

³and going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven—which I have forbidden—

¹Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.

²⁶I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

²⁷And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.

²⁴A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.

⁵Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.

⁶For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are the members of his own household.

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.

¹³You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

¹⁶You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

⁵And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone!

⁶Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!

⁹As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse!

³You shall have no other gods before Me.

³⁷Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;

⁷When they continued to question Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her.”

⁵⁸They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

²If a man or woman among you in one of the towns that the Lord your God gives you is found doing evil in the sight of the Lord your God by transgressing His covenant

³and going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven—which I have forbidden—

²⁶“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.

²⁵“Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the Lord will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies.

²“Tell the Israelites, ‘Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the land are to stone him.

²¹But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the Lord.

²¹Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

³⁵And the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death. The whole congregation is to stone him outside the camp.”

³⁶So the whole congregation took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²⁷A man or a woman who is a medium or spiritist must surely be put to death. They shall be stoned; their blood is upon them.’”

²⁰Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.

¹³Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will no longer behave arrogantly.

¹¹When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; and when a wise man is instructed, he acquires knowledge.

²⁰But those who persist in sin should be rebuked in front of everyone, so that the others will stand in fear of sin.

²⁵Strike a mocker, and the simple will beware; rebuke the discerning man, and he will gain knowledge.

¹Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the Lord at Mizpah.

²The leaders of all the people and all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 men on foot, armed with swords.

¹¹Then the Israelites received the report: “Behold, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the border of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.”

¹²And when they heard this, the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.

¹⁹They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.

⁶If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known,

²and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,”

¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

¹³Hand over the wicked men of Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge Israel of this evil.” But the Benjamites refused to heed the voice of their fellow Israelites.

¹Now a worthless man named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjamite, happened to be there, and he blew the ram’s horn and shouted: “We have no share in David, no inheritance in Jesse’s son. Every man to his tent, O Israel!”

⁴and if it is reported and you hear about it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the report is true and such an abomination has happened in Israel,

²⁴Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”

¹⁹Do not entertain an accusation against an elder, except on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

³And He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what His eyes see, and He will not decide by what His ears hear,

⁴but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.

¹⁸He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.

³⁰If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness.

²⁰If anyone sacrifices to any god other than the Lord alone, he must be set apart for destruction.

²⁸Nothing that a man sets apart to the Lord from all he owns—whether a man, an animal, or his inherited land—can be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord.

²and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

¹⁶You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

²⁴Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.

¹⁶And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

²⁸So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

²Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned. Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors, says the Lord.

²⁴Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.

²Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.

¹This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins.

⁶Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble in the open field, a planting area for a vineyard. I will pour her stones into the valley and expose her foundations.

²⁶And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.

²⁴and that night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of My servant Abraham.”

²⁶And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the Lord turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

⁴I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

¹⁴Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

¹⁸But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction. If you take any of these, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster upon it.

²⁸Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

²⁵Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

²⁴Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

²¹Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

³³But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

⁶Then I would not be ashamed when I consider all Your commandments.