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Deuteronomy 13 · a question people ask

What if the report about the city wasn't true?

In the text

The chapter puts the checking first. "If you hear about one of your cities" (13:12), then "you shall inquire, investigate, and ask diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination was done among you" (13:14), and only then does 13:15 follow. Deuteronomy says the same in the law about anyone found serving other gods: "then you shall inquire diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain" (17:4), and adds, "At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death" (17:6). It also says what happens to a false witness: "the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother" (19:18-19). In this chapter, 13:15 follows only "if it is true, and the thing certain" (13:14); the chapter gives no more detail than that about how the inquiry was made.

The verses

“If you hear about one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell there, that certain wicked fellows have gone out from among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods,” which you have not known, then you shall inquire, investigate, and ask diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination was done among you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, with all that is therein and its livestock, with the edge of the sword.”
Deuteronomy 13:12-15 · World English Bible
“If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from among you.”
Deuteronomy 19:16-19 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Deuteronomy 13

Deuteronomy 13: Walk after the LORD your God

In Deuteronomy 13 a prophet's sign can come to pass and still not be the test; where he leads is (13:2-3). The answer is six things, and in Hebrew each puts him, his commandments or his voice before the verb: walk after, fear, keep, obey, serve, and "cling to him" (13:4), the same verb as "Nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to your hand" (13:17).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions