⁹You must certainly put them to death.^q Your hand^r must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. ¹⁰Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away^s from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹¹Then all Israel will hear and be afraid,^t and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.

¹²If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in ¹³that troublemakers^u have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known), ¹⁴then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly.^v And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you,^w ¹⁵you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely,^b^x both its people and its livestock.^y ¹⁶You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town^z and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God.^a That town is to remain a ruin^b forever, never to be rebuilt,

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Footnotes

bThe Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.

Cross references

qver 5
rSee Lev 24:14
sSee Ex 20:3
t Dt 17:13; 19:20; 21:21; 1 Ti 5:20
uver 2, 6; Jdg 19:22; 20:13; 1 Sa 2:12; 10:27; 11:12; 25:17; 1 Ki 21:10
v Jdg 20:12
w Dt 17:4
x Isa 24:6; 34:5; 43:28; 47:6; La 2:6; Da 9:11; Zec 8:13; Mal 4:6
y Ex 22:20
z 2 Ki 25:9; Jer 39:8; 52:13; Eze 16:41
a Dt 7:25, 26; Jos 6:24
b Jos 8:28; Isa 7:16; 17:1; 24:10; 25:2; 27:10; 32:14, 19; 37:26; Jer 49:2; Mic 1:6