¹⁸ Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you ^(A)a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit,

¹⁵ See to it that no one ^(A)fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ^(B)“root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;

¹⁶ Take care ^(A)lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and ^(B)serve other gods and worship them; ¹⁷ then ^(C)the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he ^(D)will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and ^(E)you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

¹⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(A)Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them ^(B)poisonous water to drink.

13 “If a prophet or ^(A)a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and ^(B)the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God ^(C)is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall ^(D)walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and ^(E)hold fast to him. ⁵ But ^(F)that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. ^(G)So you shall purge the evil^[a] from your midst.

^6 (H)“If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or ^(I)the wife you embrace^[b] or your friend ^(J)who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ ^(K)which neither you nor your fathers have known, ⁷ some ^(L)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 ^(M)not yield to him or listen to him, nor ^(N)shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. ⁹ But you shall kill him. ^(O)Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. ^10 (P)You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹¹ And ^(Q)all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

¹² “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, ¹³ that certain ^(R)worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, ¹⁴ then you shall inquire and make search and ask ^(S)diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, ¹⁵ you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction,^[c] all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword.

¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from ^(A)the living God.

²³ For I see that you are in ^(A)the gall^[a] of bitterness and in ^(B)the bond of iniquity.”