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Deuteronomy 13

Deuteronomy book home•Chapter 13 of 34•18 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

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Deuteronomy 13 Overview

Deuteronomy 13 deals with enticement to idolatry from three increasingly close sources: a prophet or dreamer, a beloved relative or friend, and an entire city. Even a sign that comes to pass does not excuse a message that contradicts the LORD’s revealed demand for exclusive worship. Charges against a city must be investigated diligently before judgment is carried out.

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Before you read Deuteronomy 13

Coming from

Chapter 12 warned Israel not to imitate Canaanite worship or add foreign practices to the LORD’s worship.

In this chapter

Moses explains how Israel must respond when religious influence actively tries to pull the covenant people toward other gods.

Leads into

Chapter 14 returns to Israel’s distinct holiness in ordinary life through mourning customs, food laws, tithes, and care for Levites and the needy.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The chapter does not teach that miraculous-looking signs automatically validate a messenger. Revelation already given governs the evaluation: a prophet who says 'Let us go after other gods' is false even if a predicted sign occurs. The civil penalties belong to Israel as a covenant nation under the Mosaic law, not to the New Testament church as an institution.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Truth is not established by signs alone; a message must agree with God’s revealed word.

Truth 2

Loyalty to the LORD takes precedence over even the closest human relationships.

Truth 3

Serious accusations require diligent inquiry rather than impulsive punishment.

Truth 4

Idolatry is treated as covenant treason because it attacks Israel’s exclusive relationship with the LORD.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Deuteronomy 18 gives additional tests for prophetic claims.

Connection 2

1 Kings 13 shows the danger of departing from a clear word of God because of another person’s religious claim.

Connection 3

Galatians 1:8–9 expresses a New Testament principle that even impressive messengers are to be rejected if they preach a contrary gospel, though the church is not given Israel’s civil penalties.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not transfer Israel’s theocratic death penalties to the church; the New Testament church has no commission to execute idolaters or false teachers.

Keep this clear 2

A fulfilled prediction is not enough to validate doctrine.

Keep this clear 3

The command to investigate a city means zeal must not replace evidence.

Read Deuteronomy 13 watching for…

The three sources of enticement Moses considers.

Why a fulfilled sign does not settle the question of truth.

The repeated command not to follow other gods.

The requirement for diligent investigation before judging a city.

The distinction between covenant loyalty and personal affection.

Chapter outline3 sections

1-5A false prophet who leads to other gods must be rejected 6-11A close relative who entices to idolatry must not be followed 12-18A city turned to idolatry must be investigated and judged

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;

Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;

Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:

But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.

If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,

Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;

Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;

Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.

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Deuteronomy 13:18

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