Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, December 27th, 2025
the Second Day after Christmas
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Amplified Bible

Deuteronomy 13:12

"If you hear [it said] in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to live in,

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Idol, Idolatry;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Israel;   Kill, Killing;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Devoted Thing;   Pentateuch;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Capital Punishment;   Crimes and Punishments;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ban;   Crimes and Punishments;   Deuteronomy;   Prophecy, Prophets;  

Encyclopedias:

- The Jewish Encyclopedia - Accessories;   Capital Punishment;   Sidra;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“If you hear it said about one of your cities the Lord your God is giving you to live in,
Hebrew Names Version
If you shall hear tell concerning one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell there, saying,
King James Version
If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
Lexham English Bible
"If you hear in one of your towns which Yahweh your God is giving to you to live in, someone saying that
English Standard Version
"If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there,
New Century Version
The Lord your God is giving you cities in which to live, and you might hear something about one of them. Someone might say
New English Translation
Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that
New American Standard Bible
"If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that
Geneva Bible (1587)
If thou shalt heare say (concerning any of thy cities which the Lord thy God hath giuen thee to dwell in)
Legacy Standard Bible
"If you hear in one of your cities, which Yahweh your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that
Contemporary English Version
After the Lord your God gives you towns to live in, you may hear a rumor about one of the towns.
Complete Jewish Bible
Then all Isra'el will hear about it and be afraid, so that they will stop doing such wickedness as this among themselves.
Darby Translation
If in one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee to dwell there, thou hearest, saying,
Easy-to-Read Version
"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
George Lamsa Translation
When you shall hear, in one of your cities which the LORD your God gives you to dwell in, one saying,
Good News Translation
"When you are living in the towns that the Lord your God gives you, you may hear
Literal Translation
If, in one of your cities which Jehovah your God is giving you to live in, you hear one saying,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf thou hearest in eny cite which ye LORDE thy God hath geue the to dwell in,
American Standard Version
If thou shalt hear tell concerning one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to dwell there, saying,
Bible in Basic English
And if word comes to you, in one of the towns which the Lord your God is giving you for your resting-place,
Bishop's Bible (1568)
If thou shalt heare say in one of thy cities, whiche the Lorde thy God hath geuen thee to dwell in,
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee.
King James Version (1611)
If thou shalt heare say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath giuen thee to dwell there, saying,
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And if in one of thy cities which the Lord God gives thee to dwell therein, thou shalt hear men saying,
English Revised Version
If thou shalt hear tell concerning one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to dwell there, saying,
Berean Standard Bible
If, regarding one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit, you hear it said
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If thou herist ony men seiynge in oon of thi citees, whiche thi Lord God schal yyue to thee to enhabite,
Young's Literal Translation
`When thou hearest, in one of thy cities which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee to dwell there, [one] saying,
Update Bible Version
If you shall hear concerning one of your cities, which Yahweh your God gives you to dwell there, saying,
Webster's Bible Translation
If thou shalt hear, in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
World English Bible
If you shall hear tell concerning one of your cities, which Yahweh your God gives you to dwell there, saying,
New King James Version
"If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell in, saying,
New Living Translation
"When you begin living in the towns the Lord your God is giving you, you may hear
New Life Bible
"You might hear that in one of the cities the Lord your God has given you to live in
New Revised Standard
If you hear it said about one of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you to live in,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
When thou shalt hear - in one of thy cities which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee to dwell there - saying:
Douay-Rheims Bible
If in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to dwell in, thou hear some say:
Revised Standard Version
"If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell there,
THE MESSAGE
When word comes in from one of your cities that God , your God, is giving you to live in, reporting that evil men have gotten together with some of the citizens of the city and have broken away, saying, "Let's go and worship other gods" (gods you know nothing about), then you must conduct a careful examination. Ask questions, investigate. If it turns out that the report is true and this abomination did in fact take place in your community, you must execute the citizens of that town. Kill them, setting that city apart for holy destruction: the city and everything in it including its animals. Gather the plunder in the middle of the town square and burn it all—town and plunder together up in smoke, a holy sacrifice to God , your God. Leave it there, ashes and ruins. Don't build on that site again. And don't let any of the plunder devoted to holy destruction stick to your fingers. Get rid of it so that God may turn from anger to compassion, generously making you prosper, just as he promised your ancestors.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that

Contextual Overview

12"If you hear [it said] in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to live in,13that some worthless and evil men have gone out from among you and have tempted the inhabitants of their city [to sin], saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom you have not known), 14then you shall investigate and search out [witnesses] and ask thorough questions. If it is true and the matter is established that this loathsome thing has been done among you, 15you shall most certainly strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it, even its livestock with the edge of the sword. 16"Then you shall collect all its spoil (plunder) into the middle of its open square and burn the city and set fire to the spoil as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It shall be a ruin forever. It shall not be built again. 17"Nothing from that which is put under the ban (designated for destruction) shall cling to your hand, so that the LORD may turn away from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He swore to your fathers, 18because you have listened to and obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Joshua 22:11-34, Judges 20:1, 2-17

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 17:4 - inquired Joshua 18:11 - between the children

Cross-References

Genesis 13:7
And there was strife and quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were living in the land at that same time [making grazing of the livestock difficult].
Genesis 13:8
So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife and disagreement between you and me, nor between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, because we are relatives.
Genesis 14:12
And they also took [captive] Lot, Abram's nephew, and his possessions and left, for he was living in Sodom.
Genesis 19:1
It was evening when the two angels came to Sodom. Lot was sitting at Sodom's [city] gate. Seeing them, Lot got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
Genesis 19:25
and He overthrew (demolished, ended) those cities, and the entire valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground.
Genesis 19:29
Now when God ravaged and destroyed the cities of the plain [of Siddim], He remembered Abraham [and for that reason], and He sent [Abraham's nephew] Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He destroyed the cities in which Lot had lived.
Psalms 26:5
I hate the company of evildoers, And will not sit with the wicked.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities,.... A report concerning them, anyone of them:

which the Lord thy God had given thee to dwell there; which he had not only given them, but had put them into the possession of, and it was become their dwelling place, or was inhabited by Israelites; otherwise they were already given unto them, but did not inherit and inhabit them, and it might be possible that there might be some city or cities, at least for a time, which, though given them, were not inhabited by them, but by the Canaanites, and such cities this law did not concern: saying; as follows.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

City was to keep jealous watch over city, as man over man. The clause “which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell in” significantly reminds them that the real ownership of their dwellings rested in the Lord (compare Leviticus 25:23), and that they, the mere tenants, must not allow His property to become a center of rebellion against His just authority.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile