20 ^a“Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction.¹

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace¹ 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.

2 “If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the ^osun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, 4 and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall ^pinquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. 6 ^qOn the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 ^rThe hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of ^sall the people. So you shall purge¹ the evil² from your midst.