³ you must not heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.^(A)

¹⁹ Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine.^(A)

² Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.^(A)

⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.^(A)

²⁰ for teaching and for instruction?” surely those who speak like this will have no dawn!^(A)

¹⁴ and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword^[a] and yet lived,^(A)

⁴ Little children, you are from God and have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Testing the Spirits

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.^(A)

¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not belong to us, for if they had belonged to us they would have remained^[a] with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us.^(A)