Deuteronomy 13

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign and the wonder he told you of come to pass, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods you have not known, and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or 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 all your soul. You shall follow the LORD your God and fear him, keep his commandments and listen to his voice, serve him and hold fast to him. 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 from the house of slavery, to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you. If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, from among the gods of the peoples around you, whether near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other, you shall not consent to him or listen to him. Your eye shall not pity him; you shall not spare him or conceal him. You shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. Stone him to death, because he sought to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. All Israel shall hear and fear, and never again do such an evil thing among you. If you hear it said of one of your cities that the LORD your God is giving you to live in, ‘Worthless men have gone out from among you and have led the inhabitants of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,” which you have not known,’ then you shall inquire, investigate, and question carefully. If it is true and the matter is confirmed that this abomination has been done among you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. Devote it to destruction, with all that is in it, and its livestock, with the edge of the sword. Gather all its spoil into the middle of its public square, and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, entirely for the LORD your God. It shall remain a heap of ruins forever; it shall never be rebuilt. Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hand, so that the LORD may turn from his burning anger and give you mercy, have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, when you listen to the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all his commandments that I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

Rights and attribution