⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, ^(A)let him be accursed.

Final Instructions and Greetings

¹⁷ I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles ^(A)contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; ^(B)avoid them.

¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: ^(A)if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in ^(B)the tree of life and in ^(C)the holy city, which are described in this book.

^2 (A)You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.

Final Warnings

13 ^(A)This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established ^(B)by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ^2 (C)I warned ^(D)those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that ^(E)if I come again I will not spare them—

¹⁷ Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans ^(A)according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time?

^32 [a] “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. ^(A)You shall not add to it or take from it.

13 “If a prophet or ^(B)a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and ^(C)the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God ^(D)is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall ^(E)walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and ^(F)hold fast to him. ⁵ But ^(G)that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. ^(H)So you shall purge the evil^[b] from your midst.

^6 (I)“If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or ^(J)the wife you embrace^[c] or your friend ^(K)who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ ^(L)which neither you nor your fathers have known, ⁷ some ^(M)of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, ⁸ you shall ^(N)not yield to him or listen to him, nor ^(O)shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. ⁹ But you shall kill him. ^(P)Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. ^10 (Q)You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹¹ And ^(R)all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

3 Finally, my brothers,^{[a] (A)}rejoice in the Lord. ^(B)To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.