Deuteronomy 13:1-10

1One day, you may have a prophet among you who tells you what will happen in the future. He may have dreams about what will happen. He may promise to do miracles to show that he is right.

2He may say that you should start to worship other gods that you did not know about before. The miracles may happen, as he promised,

3but do not listen to that prophet's message. The Lord your God is using this person to test your thoughts. He wants to know if you really love him in everything that you think and everything that you do.

4You must serve only the Lord your God and respect him with fear. You must obey his commands and serve him faithfully.

5You must punish that false prophet with death. He has told you to turn against the Lord your God. The Lord rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. But the false prophet has tried to turn you away from the way of life that the Lord your God has commanded. So you must remove all evil things like that from among you.

6Even someone in your own family may try to turn you away from the Lord. It may be your own brother, your son or your daughter. It may be your wife whom you love. It may be a friend that you like very much. They may say to you secretly, ‘We should worship other gods.’ Those are gods that you and your ancestors never knew about before.

7They are gods that people who live around you may worship. They may be gods of people who live near to you. They may be gods of people who live anywhere on the earth.

8But never agree with anyone who says that you should worship those gods. Do not even listen to him! Do not feel sorry for him. Do not try to protect him from punishment.

9Instead, you must certainly kill him! You must be the first person to throw stones to kill him. Then everyone else must do the same thing.

10You must throw stones at him until he dies. He tried to turn you away from the Lord your God. It was the Lord who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.