Warning Against Idolatry

29 ^v“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30 take care that you be not ^wensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ 31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even ^xburn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

32 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. ^yYou shall not add to it or take from it.

1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a ^zsign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is ^atesting you, to know whether you ^blove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams ^cshall be put to death, because he has ^dtaught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. ^eSo you shall ^fpurge the evil² from your midst.

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace³ or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, ^gnor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. ^hYour hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of ⁱall the people. 10 You shall ^jstone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel shall ^khear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

12 “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, 13 that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, 14 then you shall inquire and make search and ^lask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction,⁴ all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. 17 ^mNone of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the Lord may ⁿturn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and ^omultiply you, as he swore to your fathers, 18 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.

35 The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or ^obow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, 36 but you shall fear the Lord, who ^pbrought you out of the land of Egypt with ^qgreat power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. 37 And the ^rstatutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, 38 and you shall not ^sforget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, 39 but you shall fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” 40 However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

41 So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children’s children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

15 I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and ^samend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.’ But you did not ^tincline your ear or listen to me.