1 If a prophet {navi: one who declares divine messages} or a dreamer of dreams arises in your midst and gives you a sign or a wonder {mofet: extraordinary act},
2 And the sign {ot: miraculous sign} and the wonder that he spoke to you about has come to pass, saying, “Let us go after other gods {elohim: false deities}—which you have not known—and let us serve them;”
3 You must not give heed to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD {YHWH, Faithfulness Examiner} your God is testing you, to learn whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart {levav: inner will} and with all your soul.
4 You shall walk after the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Covenant Guide}; you shall fear Him, guard His commandments, listen to His voice {kolo: divine instruction}, serve Him, and cling to Him.
5 And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, for he has spoken rebellion {sarah: apostasy} against the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Covenant Keeper}, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to draw you away from the way that the LORD your God commanded you to walk in. You shall purge the evil from your midst.
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 like your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods {elohim: false spiritual powers} which you have not known, you nor your fathers {avotekha: ancestral lineage}.”
7 From the gods {elohim: foreign deities} of the peoples that surround you—whether near to you or far from you, from one edge of the land {eretz: territory} to the other.
8 You must not consent to him, and you must not listen to him. Your eye must not show pity {tachos: look with compassion} upon him, and you must not spare him, and you must not cover up {tekhaseh: conceal wrongdoing} for him.
9 You must kill {harog: emphatic infinitive absolute} him; your hand shall be first {barishonah: initial responsibility} to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people shall follow.
10 And you shall stone him with stones, and he shall die, because he sought to lead you astray from the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenant Protector} who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves {avadim: those in bondage}.
11 And all Israel will hear and will fear {yira’un: revere with awe}, and they will not continue to do such an evil {hara: moral corruption} thing as this in your midst.
12 If you hear it said in one of your towns that the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenant Giver} is giving you to dwell {lashevet: for habitation} there,
13 Men, sons of Belial {beliyya’al: lawless ones}, have gone out from among you and have led astray the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods {elohim: false deities} that you have not known.”
14 And you shall investigate, and you shall inquire, and you shall ask thoroughly {heitev: with complete diligence}, and behold, if truth and certainty are found that the matter has been done—the detestable thing {toevah: abomination}—this is in your midst.
15 You must surely strike down the inhabitants of that city by the sword {charev: instrument of execution} and utterly destroy the city by the ban {hacherem: total devotion to destruction}, including all that is in it and its livestock.
16 You shall gather all its plunder {shelalah: war spoil} into the middle of its open square, and you shall burn the city and all its plunder wholly to the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheicha, Exclusive Devotion}. It shall be a heap forever and shall never be rebuilt.
17 And nothing of the devoted thing {cherem: set apart for destruction} shall cling to your hand, so that the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} may turn from the burning of His anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you, and increase you, as He swore to your fathers.
18 This will be so when you listen to the voice of the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha: Covenant Upholder}, keeping all His commandments that I command you today, and doing what is upright {yashar: morally straight} in the eyes of the LORD your God.