<t /><p class="bodytext">You must destroy<n id="1" /> all the people whom the <sc>Lordsc> your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship<n id="2" /> their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Now if you forget the <sc>Lordsc> your God at all<n id="1" /> and follow other gods, worshiping and prostrating yourselves before them, I testify to you today that you will surely be annihilated.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now, Israel, what does the <sc>Lordsc> your God require of you except to revere him,<n id="1" /> to obey all his commandments,<n id="2" /> to love him, to serve him<n id="3" /> with all your mind and being,<n id="4" />

Now, if you pay close attention<n id="1" /> to my commandments that I am giving you today and love<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> your God and serve him with all your mind and being,<n id="3" />

You must by all means destroy<n id="1" /> all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods &#8211; on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree.<n id="2" />

After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, &#8220;How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Suppose your own full brother,<n id="1" /> your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend should seduce you secretly and encourage you to go and serve other gods<n id="2" /> that neither you nor your ancestors<n id="3" /> have previously known,<n id="4" />

You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice<n id="1" /> the time of a hired worker; the <sc>Lordsc> your God will bless you in everything you do.p>

Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse<n id="1" /> must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked &#8211; that has never pulled with the yoke &#8211;

and bring the heifer down to a wadi with flowing water,<n id="1" /> to a valley that is neither plowed nor sown.<n id="2" /> There at the wadi they are to break the heifer&#8217;s neck.

The <sc>Lordsc> will force you and your king<n id="1" /> whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.

instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty<n id="1" /> you will serve your enemies whom the <sc>Lordsc> will send against you. They<n id="2" /> will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you.

The <sc>Lordsc> will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.

For after I have brought them<n id="1" /> to the land I promised to their<n id="2" /> ancestors &#8211; one flowing with milk and honey &#8211; and they<n id="3" /> eat their fill<n id="4" /> and become fat, then they<n id="5" /> will turn to other gods and worship them; they will reject me and break my covenant.

Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the <sc>Lordsc> our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit.<n id="1" />