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Deuteronomy 13:1-18 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

1 If there arise H6965 among H7130 you a prophet, H5030 or a dreamer H2492 of dreams, H2472 and giveth H5414 thee a sign H226 or a wonder, H4159

2 And the sign H226 or the wonder H4159 come to pass, H935 whereof he spake H1696 unto thee, saying, H559 Let us go H3212 after H310 other H312 gods, H430 which thou hast not known, H3045 and let us serve H5647 them;

3 Thou shalt not hearken H8085 unto the words H1697 of that prophet, H5030 or that dreamer H2492 of dreams: H2472 for the LORD H3068 your God H430 proveth H5254 you, to know H3045 whether ye H3426 love H157 the LORD H3068 your God H430 with all your heart H3824 and with all your soul. H5315

4 Ye shall walk H3212 after H310 the LORD H3068 your God, H430 and fear H3372 him, and keep H8104 his commandments, H4687 and obey H8085 his voice, H6963 and ye shall serve H5647 him, and cleave H1692 unto him.

5 And that prophet, H5030 or that dreamer H2492 of dreams, H2472 shall be put to death; H4191 because he hath spoken H1696 to turn H5627 you away from the LORD H3068 your God, H430 which brought you out H3318 of the land H776 of Egypt, H4714 and redeemed H6299 you out of the house H1004 of bondage, H5650 to thrust H5080 thee out of the way H1870 which the LORD H3068 thy God H430 commanded H6680 thee to walk in. H3212 So shalt thou put H1197 the evil H7451 away H1197 from the midst H7130 of thee.

6 If thy brother, H251 the son H1121 of thy mother, H517 or thy son, H1121 or thy daughter, H1323 or the wife H802 of thy bosom, H2436 or thy friend, H7453 which is as thine own soul, H5315 entice H5496 thee secretly, H5643 saying, H559 Let us go H3212 and serve H5647 other H312 gods, H430 which thou hast not known, H3045 thou, nor thy fathers; H1

7 Namely, of the gods H430 of the people H5971 which are round about H5439 you, nigh H7138 unto thee, or far off H7350 from thee, from the one end H7097 of the earth H776 even unto the other end H7097 of the earth; H776

8 Thou shalt not consent H14 unto him, nor hearken H8085 unto him; neither shall thine eye H5869 pity H2347 him, neither shalt thou spare, H2550 neither shalt thou conceal H3680 him:

9 But thou shalt surely H2026 kill H2026 him; thine hand H3027 shall be first H7223 upon him to put him to death, H4191 and afterwards H314 the hand H3027 of all the people. H5971

10 And thou shalt stone H5619 him with stones, H68 that he die; H4191 because he hath sought H1245 to thrust thee away H5080 from the LORD H3068 thy God, H430 which brought thee out H3318 of the land H776 of Egypt, H4714 from the house H1004 of bondage. H5650

11 And all Israel H3478 shall hear, H8085 and fear, H3372 and shall do H6213 no more H3254 any H1697 such wickedness H7451 as this is among H7130 you.

12 If thou shalt hear H8085 say in one H259 of thy cities, H5892 which the LORD H3068 thy God H430 hath given H5414 thee to dwell H3427 there, saying, H559

13 Certain men, H582 the children H1121 of Belial, H1100 are gone out H3318 from among H7130 you, and have withdrawn H5080 the inhabitants H3427 of their city, H5892 saying, H559 Let us go H3212 and serve H5647 other H312 gods, H430 which ye have not known; H3045

14 Then shalt thou enquire, H1875 and make search, H2713 and ask H7592 diligently; H3190 and, behold, if it be truth, H571 and the thing H1697 certain, H3559 that such H2063 abomination H8441 is wrought H6213 among H7130 you;

15 Thou shalt surely H5221 smite H5221 the inhabitants H3427 of that city H5892 with the edge H6310 of the sword, H2719 destroying it utterly, H2763 and all that is therein, and the cattle H929 thereof, with the edge H6310 of the sword. H2719

16 And thou shalt gather H6908 all the spoil H7998 of it into the midst H8432 of the street H7339 thereof, and shalt burn H8313 with fire H784 the city, H5892 and all the spoil H7998 thereof every whit, H3632 for the LORD H3068 thy God: H430 and it shall be an heap H8510 for ever; H5769 it shall not be built again. H1129

17 And there shall cleave H1692 nought H3972 of the cursed thing H2764 to thine hand: H3027 that the LORD H3068 may turn H7725 from the fierceness H2740 of his anger, H639 and shew H5414 thee mercy, H7356 and have compassion H7355 upon thee, and multiply H7235 thee, as he hath sworn H7650 unto thy fathers; H1

18 When thou shalt hearken H8085 to the voice H6963 of the LORD H3068 thy God, H430 to keep H8104 all his commandments H4687 which I command H6680 thee this day, H3117 to do H6213 that which is right H3477 in the eyes H5869 of the LORD H3068 thy God. H430

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 13

Commentary on Deuteronomy 13 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verses 1-3

The first case. If a prophet, or one who had dreams, should rise up to summon to the worship of other gods, with signs and wonders which came to pass, the Israelites were not to hearken to his words, but to put him to death. The introduction of חלום חלם , “ a dreamer of dreams ,” along with the prophet, answers the two media of divine revelation, the vision and the dream, by which, according to Numbers 12:6, God made known His will. With regard to the signs and wonders ( mopheth , see at Exodus 4:21) with which such a prophet might seek to accredit his higher mission, it is taken for granted that they come to pass ( בּוא ); yet for all that, the Israelites were to give no heed to such a prophet, to walk after other gods. It follows from this, that the person had not been sent by God, but as a false prophet, and that the signs and wonders which he gave were not wonders effected by God, but σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ψεύδους (“lying sings and wonders,” 2 Thessalonians 2:9); i.e., not merely seeming miracles, but miracles wrought in the power of the wicked one, Satan, the possibility and reality of which even Christ attests (Matthew 24:24). - The word לאמר , saying , is dependent upon the principal verb of the sentence: “if a prophet rise up...saying, We will go after other gods.”


Verse 4

God permitted false prophets to rise up with such wonders, to try the Israelites, whether they loved Him, the Lord their God, with all their heart. ( נסּה as in Genesis 22:1.) אהבים הישׁכם , whether ye are loving, i.e., faithfully maintain your love to the Lord. It is evident from this, “that however great the importance attached to signs and wonders, they were not to be regarded among the Israelites, either as the highest test, or as absolutely decisive, but that there was a certainty in Israel, which was so much the more certain and firm than any proof from miracles could be, that it might be most decidedly opposed to it” ( Baumgarten ). This certainty, however, was not “the knowledge of Jehovah,” as B. supposes; but as Luther correctly observes, “the word of God, which had already been received, and confirmed by its own signs,” and which the Israelites were to preserve and hold fast, without adding or subtracting anything. “In opposition to such a word, no prophets were to be received, although they rained signs and wonders; not even an angel from heaven, as Paul says in Galatians 1:8.” The command to hearken to the prophets whom the Lord would send at a future time (Deuteronomy 18:18.), is not at variance with this: for even their announcements were to be judged according to the standard of the fixed word of God that had been already given; and so far as they proclaimed anything new, the fact that what they announced did not occur was to be the criterion that they had not spoken in the name of the Lord, but in that of other gods (Deuteronomy 18:21-22), so that even there the signs and wonders of the prophets are not made the criteria of their divine mission.


Verse 5-6

Israel was to adhere firmly to the Lord its God (cf. Deuteronomy 4:4), and to put to death the prophet who preached apostasy from Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel out of the slave-house of Egypt. להדּיחך , “to force thee from the way in which Jehovah hath commanded thee to walk.” The execution of seducers to idolatry is enjoined upon the people , i.e., the whole community, not upon single individuals, but upon the authorities who had to maintain and administer justice. “ So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee .” הרע is neuter, as we may see from Deuteronomy 17:7, as comp. with Deuteronomy 13:2. The formula, “so shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee,” which occurs again in Deuteronomy 17:7, Deuteronomy 17:12; Deuteronomy 19:19; Deuteronomy 21:21; Deuteronomy 22:21-22, Deuteronomy 22:24, and Deuteronomy 24:7 (cf. Deuteronomy 19:13, and Deuteronomy 21:9), belongs to the hortatory character of Deuteronomy, in accordance with which a reason is given for all the commandments, and the observance of them is urged upon the congregation as a holy affair of the heart, which could not be expected in the objective legislation of the earlier books.


Verse 7-8

The second case was when the temptation to idolatry proceeded from the nearest blood-relations and friends. The clause, “son of thy mother,” is not intended to describe the brother as a step-brother, but simply to bring out the closeness of the fraternal relation; like the description of the wife as the wife of thy bosom, who lies in thy bosom, rests upon thy breast (as in Deuteronomy 28:54; Micah 7:5), and of the friend as “thy friend which is as thine own soul,” i.e., whom thou lovest as much as thy life (cf. 1 Samuel 18:1, 1 Samuel 18:3). בּסּתר belongs to יסית : if the temptation occurred in secret, and therefore the fact might be hidden from others. The power of love and relationship, which flesh and blood find it hard to resist, is placed here in contrast with the supposed higher or divine authority of the seducers. As the persuasion was already very seductive, from the fact that it proceeded from the nearest blood-relations and most intimate friends, and was offered in secret, it might become still more so from the fact that it recommended the worship of a deity that had nothing in common with the forbidden idols of Canaan, and the worship of which, therefore, might appear of less consequence, or commend itself by the charm of peculiarity and novelty. To prevent this deceptive influence of sin, it is expressly added in Deuteronomy 13:8 (7), “ of the gods nigh unto thee or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth ,” i.e., whatever gods there might be upon the whole circuit of the earth.


Verses 9-11

To such persuasion Israel was not to yield, nor were they to spare the tempters. The accumulation of synonyms (pity, spare, conceal) serves to make the passage more emphatic. כּסּה , to cover, i.e., to keep secret, conceal. They were to put him to death without pity, viz., to stone him (cf. Leviticus 20:2). That the execution even in this case was to be carried out by the regular authorities, is evident from the words, “thy hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people afterwards,” which presuppose the judicial procedure prescribed in Deuteronomy 17:7, that the witnesses were to cast the first stones at the person condemned.


Verse 12

This was to be done, and all Israel was to hear it and fear, that no such wickedness should be performed any more in the congregation. The fear of punishment, which is given here as the ultimate end of the punishment itself, is not to be regarded as the principle lying at the foundation of the law, but simply, as Calvin expresses it, as “the utility and fruit of severity,” one reason for carrying out the law, which is not to be confounded with the so-called deterrent theory, i.e., the attempt to deter from crime by the mode of punishing (see my Archהologie, ii. p. 262).


Verse 13-14

The third case is that of a town that had been led away to idolatry. “ If thou shalt hear in one of thy cities .” בּאחת , not de una , of one, which שׁמע with בּ never can mean, and does not mean even in Job 26:14. The thought is not that they would hear in one city about another, as though one city had the oversight over another; but there is an inversion in the sentence, “ if thou hear, that in one of thy cities...worthless men have risen up, and led the inhabitants astray to serve strange gods .” לאמר introduces the substance of what is heard, which follows in Deuteronomy 13:14. יצא merely signifies to rise up, to go forth. מקּרבּך , out of the midst of the people.


Verse 15-16

Upon this report the people as a whole, of course through their rulers, were to examine closely into the affair ( היטב , an adverb, as in Deuteronomy 9:21), whether the word was established as truth, i.e., the thing was founded in truth (cf. Deuteronomy 17:4; Deuteronomy 22:20); and if it really were so, they were to smite the inhabitants of that town with the edge of the sword (cf. Genesis 34:26), putting the town and all that was in it under the ban. “ All that is in it ” relates to men, cattle, and the material property of the town, and not to men alone ( Schultz ). The clause from “destroying” to “therein” is a more minute definition of the punishment introduced as a parenthesis; for “the cattle thereof,” which follows, is also governed by “thou shalt smite.” The ban was to be executed in all its severity as upon an idolatrous city: man and beast were to be put to death without reserves; and its booty, i.e., whatever was to be found in it as booty-all material goods, therefore - were to be heaped together in the market, and burned along with the city itself. ליהוה כּליל ( Eng. Ver . “every whit, for the Lord thy God”) signifies “ as a whole offering for the Lord ” (see Leviticus 6:15-16), i.e., it was to be sanctified to Him entirely by being destroyed. The town was to continue an eternal hill (or heap of ruins), never to be built up again.


Verse 17

To enforce this command still more strongly, it is expressly stated, that of all that was burned, nothing whatever was to cleave or remain hanging to the hand of Israel, that the Lord might turn from His wrath and have compassion upon the nation, i.e., not punish the sin of one town upon the nation as a whole, but have mercy upon it and multiply it, - make up the diminution consequent upon the destruction of the inhabitants of that town, and so fulfil the promise given to the fathers of the multiplication of their seed.


Verse 18

Jehovah would do this if Israel hearkened to His voice, to do what was right in His eyes. In what way the appropriation of property laid under the ban brought the wrath of God upon the whole congregation, is shown by the example of Achan (Josh 7).