Deuteronomy 13-14

New American Standard Bible

Reject Idolatry

13 “^[a](A)If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and the sign or the wonder comes true, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘^(B)Let’s follow other gods (whom you have not known) and let’s serve them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is ^(C)testing you to find out whether ^(D)you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ^4 (E)You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and ^(F)cling to Him. ⁵ But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be ^(G)put to death, because he has spoken falsely against the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of ^[b]slavery, ^(H)to drive you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. ^(I)So you shall eliminate the evil from among you.

⁶ “^(J)If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife ^[c]you cherish, or your friend who is like your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, ‘^(K)Let’s go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, ⁷ of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you, or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), ^8 (L)you shall not consent to him or listen to him; ^(M)and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. ^9 (N)Instead, you shall most certainly kill him; ^(O)your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. ¹⁰ So you shall stone him ^[d]to death, because he has attempted ^(P)to drive you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[e]slavery. ¹¹ Then ^(Q)all Israel will hear about it and be afraid, and will not do such a wicked thing among you again.

¹² “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that ¹³ some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘^(R)Let’s go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known), ¹⁴ then you shall investigate, search out, and inquire thoroughly. And if it is true and the matter is certain that this abomination has been committed among you, ^15 (S)you shall most certainly strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. ^[f]Utterly destroy it and all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. ^16 (T)Then you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of its public square, and burn the city and all its plunder with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God; and it shall be a ^[g](U)ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. ¹⁷ Nothing at all from what is designated for destruction is to cling to your hand, in order that the Lord may turn from ^(V)His burning anger and ^(W)show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and ^(X)make you increase, just ^(Y)as He has sworn to your fathers, ^18 [h]if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, ^[i]keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, ^[j]and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Clean and Unclean Animals

14 “You are ^(Z)sons of the Lord your God; ^(AA)you shall not cut yourselves nor ^[k]shave a bald spot ^[l]above your forehead for the dead. ² For you are ^(AB)a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a ^(AC)people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

³ “^(AD)You shall not eat any detestable thing. ^4 (AE)These are the animals that you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ^5 [m]the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. ⁶ And any animal that has a divided hoof and has its hoofs split in two, and ^[n]chews the cud, among the animals, ^[o]that animal you may eat. ⁷ However, you are not to eat these among the ones that ^[p]chew the cud, or among those that have the hoof divided in ^[q]two: the camel, the ^[r]rabbit, and the rock hyrax, for though they ^[s]chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are unclean to you. ⁸ And the pig, because it has a divided hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, nor touch their carcasses.

⁹ “These you may eat of everything that is in the water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat, ¹⁰ but anything that does not have fins and scales, you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹ “You may eat any clean bird. ¹² But ^(AF)these are the ones that you shall not eat: the ^[t]eagle and the vulture and the ^[u]buzzard, ¹³ and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds, ¹⁴ and every raven in its kind, ¹⁵ and the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, and the hawk in their kinds, ¹⁶ the little owl, the ^[v]great owl, the white owl, ¹⁷ the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, ¹⁸ the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat. ¹⁹ And all the swarming insects with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten. ²⁰ You may eat any clean bird.

²¹ “^(AG)You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the stranger who is in your ^[w]town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a stranger; for you are ^(AH)a holy people to the Lord your God. ^(AI)You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

²² “You ^(AJ)shall certainly tithe all the produce from ^[x]what you sow, which comes from the field every year. ²³ You shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, ^(AK)at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may ^(AL)learn to fear the Lord your God always. ²⁴ But if the ^[y]distance is so great for you that you are not able to ^[z]bring the tithe, since the place where the Lord your God chooses ^(AM)to set His name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you, ²⁵ then you shall ^[aa]exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. ²⁶ And you may spend the money on whatever your ^[ab]heart desires: on oxen, sheep, wine, other strong drink, or whatever your ^[ac]heart ^[ad]desires; and ^(AN)there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. ²⁷ Also you shall not neglect ^(AO)the Levite who is in your ^[ae]town, ^(AP)for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

²⁸ “^(AQ)At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and you shall deposit it in your ^[af]town. ²⁹ And the Levite, ^(AR)because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and ^(AS)the stranger, the ^[ag]orphan, and the widow who are in your ^[ah]town, shall come and ^(AT)eat and be satisfied, in order that ^(AU)the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.