Deuteronomy 13:12-18

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

¹² If in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to dwell in, thou hear some say:

¹³ Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, and have said: Let us go, and serve strange gods which you know not:

¹⁴ Inquire carefully and diligently, the truth of the thing by looking well into it, and if thou find that which is said to be certain, and that this abomination hath been really committed,

¹⁵ Thou shalt forthwith kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, and shalt destroy it and all things that are in it, even the cattle.

¹⁶ And all the household goods that are there, thou shalt gather together in the midst of the streets thereof, and shalt burn them with the city itself, so as to consume all for the Lord thy God, and that it be a heap for ever: it shall be built no more.

¹⁷ And there shall nothing of that anathema stick to thy hand: that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury, and may have mercy on thee, and multiply thee as he swore to thy fathers,

¹⁸ When thou shalt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, keeping all his precepts, which I command thee this day, that thou mayst do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.