6. “Someone close to you might secretly persuade you to worship other gods. It might be your own brother, your son, your daughter, the wife you love, or your closest friend. They might say, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods.’ (These are gods that you and your ancestors never knew.
7. They are the gods of the people who live in the other lands around you, some near and some far away.)
8. You must not agree with them. Don’t listen to them or feel sorry for them. Don’t let them go free or protect them.
11. Then all the Israelites will hear about it and be afraid. And they will not do those evil things any more.
12. “The Lord your God has given you cities to live in. Sometimes you might hear some bad news about one of these cities. You might hear that
13. some troublemakers from your own nation are persuading the people of their city to do bad things. They might say to the people of their city, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods.’ (These gods would be gods that you never knew before.)
14. If you hear this kind of news, you must do all you can to learn if it is true. If you learn that it is true, if you prove that such a terrible thing really did happen,
15. then you must kill all the people of that city and their animals too. You must destroy that city completely.
16. You must gather up everything of value and take it to the center of the city. Burn the whole city and everything in it as a burnt offering to the Lord your God. You must turn that city into an empty pile of rocks forever, and that city must never be rebuilt.