If, regarding one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit, you hear it said
Parallel translations
- WEB If you shall hear about one of your cities, which Yahweh your God gives you to dwell there, that
- KJV If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
- NKJV “If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying,
- NASB “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that
- NLT “When you begin living in the towns the Lord your God is giving you, you may hear
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If a whole city is reported to have turned to other gods, it too must be dealt with. Apostasy on a community scale is no less serious than individual sin.
Overview
Moses moves from the individual enticer to an entire town drawn into idolatry. The covenant required that even a city not be exempt from accountability. This shows how seriously God guarded the purity of his people, and it warns against corporate as well as personal departure from the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Josh 22:11–34Then the Israelites received the report: “Behold, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the border of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.”
- Judg 20:1–17Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 13:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.