^2 (A)These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

^7 (A)When Phinehas ^(B)the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand ⁸ and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped.

¹⁶ if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

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.

^2 (A)“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, ^(B)in transgressing his covenant, ³ and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or ^(C)the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, ^(D)which I have forbidden, ⁴ and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire ^(E)diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, ⁵ then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you ^(F)shall stone that man or woman to death with stones.