¹²The Lord your God is giving you towns to live in. But suppose you hear something bad about one of those towns. ¹³You hear that evil men have appeared among you. They’ve tried to get the people of their town to do something wrong. They’ve said, “Let’s go and worship other gods.” But you haven’t known anything about those gods before. ¹⁴So you must question people. You must check the matter out carefully.

If it’s true, an evil thing has really happened among you. It’s something the Lord hates. ¹⁵Then you must certainly kill with your swords everyone who lives in that town. Destroy it completely. Wipe out its people and livestock. ¹⁶Gather all of the goods of that town into the middle of the main street. Burn the town completely. Burn up everything in it.

It’s a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. The town must remain a pile of stones forever. It must never be built again.

¹⁷Don’t keep anything that should be destroyed. Then the Lord will turn away from his burning anger. He will show you mercy. He’ll have deep concern for you. He’ll increase your numbers. That’s what he promised your people long ago. He took an oath when he made the promise.

¹⁸The Lord your God will do those things if you obey him. I’m giving you his commands today. And you must obey all of them. You must do what is right in his eyes.

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