Occult Practices

⁹ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate^(A) the detestable ways^(B) of the nations there. ¹⁰ Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire,^(C) who practices divination^(D) or sorcery,^(E) interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,^{(F) 11} or casts spells,^(G) or who is a medium or spiritist^(H) or who consults the dead. ¹² Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.^{(I) 13} You must be blameless^(J) before the Lord your God.^(K)

The Prophet

¹⁴ The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination.^(L) But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.

¹⁸ “Do not allow a sorceress^(A) to live.

²⁷ “‘A man or woman who is a medium^(A) or spiritist among you must be put to death.^(B) You are to stone them;^(C) their blood will be on their own heads.’”

Worshiping Other Gods

13 ^[a]If a prophet,^(A) or one who foretells by dreams,^(B) appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, ² and if the sign^(C) or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods”^(D) (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” ³ you must not listen to the words of that prophet^(E) or dreamer.^(F) The Lord your God is testing^(G) you to find out whether you love^(H) him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ It is the Lord your God you must follow,^(I) and him you must revere.^(J) Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast^(K) to him. ⁵ That prophet or dreamer must be put to death^(L) for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn^(M) you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil^(N) from among you.

¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.^(A) You must listen to him. ¹⁶ For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”^(B)

¹⁷ The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet^(C) like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words^(D) in his mouth.^(E) He will tell them everything I command him.^{(F) 19} I myself will call to account^(G) anyone who does not listen^(H) to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.^{(I) 20} But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods,^(J) is to be put to death.”^(K)

²¹ You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” ²² If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true,^(L) that is a message the Lord has not spoken.^(M) That prophet has spoken presumptuously,^(N) so do not be alarmed.

²⁸ “Do not blaspheme God^[a](A) or curse^(B) the ruler of your people.^(C)

A Blasphemer Put to Death

¹⁰ Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. ¹¹ The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name^(A) with a curse;^(B) so they brought him to Moses.^(C) (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.)^{(D) 12} They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.^(E)

¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses: ¹⁴ “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him.^{(F) 15} Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God^(G) will be held responsible;^{(H) 16} anyone who blasphemes^(I) the name of the Lord is to be put to death.^(J) The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.

²³ Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him.^(A) The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.