¹²“If you hear in one of your towns which Yahweh your God is giving to you to live in, someone saying thatⁿ ¹³worthless men^o have gone out from your midst and have seduced the inhabitants of their town, saying,^p ‘Let us go and serve other gods!’ whom you have not known, ¹⁴then you shall inquire and examine and interrogate thoroughly, and, look! It is true; the thing has actually been done, this detestable thing in your midst, ¹⁵then you shall certainly strike down the inhabitants of that town with the edge^q of the sword; you shall destroy it and everything in it, its domestic animals with the edge^r of the sword. ¹⁶And then you shall gather all of its booty into the middle of its public square, and you shall burn the town and all of its war-booty totally for Yahweh your God, and it shall be a pile of rubble forever;^s it shall not be built again. ¹⁷And let not something cling to your hand from the things devoted to destruction, so that Yahweh may turn back from his burning anger,^t and he may show compassion to you and he may continue to show compassion and so multiply you just as he swore^u to your ancestors,^v ¹⁸if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all of his commandments that I am commanding to you today^w so as to do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh your God.”

Read in Logos

Footnotes

nLiterally “to say”
oLiterally “sons of Belial”
pLiterally “to say”
qLiterally “mouth”
rLiterally “mouth”
sLiterally “a tell/ruin forever”
tLiterally “from the burning of his nose”
uLiterally “as that he swore”
vOr “fathers”
wLiterally “the day”