Deuteronomy 13:13

Easy-to-Read Version

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.)

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
that wicked men have sprung up among you, led the inhabitants of their city astray, and said, ‘Let us go and worship other gods,’ which you have not known,

Hebrew Names Version
Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known;

King James Version
Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;

Lexham English Bible
worthless men have gone out from your midst and have seduced the inhabitants of their town, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods!' whom you have not known,

English Standard Version
that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known,

New Century Version
that evil people have moved in among you. And they might lead the people of that city away from God, saying, "Let's go and worship other gods." (These are gods you have not known.)

New English Translation
some evil people have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, saying, "Let's go and serve other gods" (whom you have not known before).

Amplified Bible
that 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),

New American Standard Bible
some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let's go and serve other gods' (whom you have not known),

Geneva Bible (1587)
Wicked men are gone out from among you, & haue drawen away the inhabitants of their citie, saying, Let vs go and serue other gods, which ye haue not knowen,

Legacy Standard Bible
some vile men have gone out from among you and have driven the inhabitants of their city astray, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods' (whom you have not known),

Contemporary English Version
You may hear that some worthless people have talked everyone there into worshiping other gods, even though these gods had never done anything for them.

Complete Jewish Bible
"If you hear it told that in one of your cities which Adonai your God is giving you to live in,

Darby Translation
There are men, children of Belial, gone out from among you, and they have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom ye have not known;

George Lamsa Translation
Certain wicked men have gone out from among you, and have led astray the inhabitants of their cities saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom you have not known;

Good News Translation
that some worthless people of your nation have misled the people of their town to worship gods that you have never worshiped before.

Literal Translation
Certain men, sons of Belial, have gone out from among you and have drawn away those who live in their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
that it is sayde: There are certayne men, the children of Belial, gone out from amonge you, and haue disceaued the inhabiters of their cite, and sayde: let vs go, and serue other goddes, whom ye knowe not.

American Standard Version
Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;

Bible in Basic English
That good-for-nothing persons have gone out from among you, turning the people of their town from the right way and saying, Let us go and give worship to other gods, of whom you have no knowledge;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
That certaine men beyng the children of Belial, are gone out fro among you, and haue moued the inhabiters of their citie, saying: let vs go and serue straunge gods, whiche ye haue not knowen:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
If thou shalt hear tell concerning one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to dwell there, saying:

King James Version (1611)
Certaine men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and haue withdrawen the inhabitants of their citie, saying, Let vs goe & serue other gods, which ye haue not knowen:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Evil men have gone out from you, and have caused all the inhabitants of their land to fall away, saying, Let us go and worship other gods, whom ye knew not,

English Revised Version
Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;

Berean Standard Bible
that wicked men have arisen from among you and led the people of their city astray, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods" (which you have not known),

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The sones of Belial yeden out fro the myddis of thee, and turneden awei the dwelleris of the citee, and seiden, Go we, and serue alien goddis whiche ye knowen not,

Young's Literal Translation
Men, sons of worthlessness, have gone out of thy midst, and they force away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known --

Update Bible Version
Certain base fellows have gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you haven't known;

Webster's Bible Translation
[Certain] men, the children of Belial, have gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;

World English Bible
Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known;

New King James Version
"Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods"'--which you have not known--

New Living Translation
that scoundrels among you are leading their fellow citizens astray by saying, ‘Let us go worship other gods'—gods you have not known before.

New Life Bible
that some men of no worth have gone out from among you to tempt those who live in their city. They might say, ‘Let us go and worship other gods,' (whom you have not known).

New Revised Standard
that scoundrels from among you have gone out and led the inhabitants of the town astray, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods," whom you have not known,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
There have gone forth men sons of the Abandoned One, out of thy midst, and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, - Let us go, and serve other gods which ye have not known;

Douay-Rheims Bible
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:

Revised Standard Version
that certain base fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of the city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom you have not known),

Contextual Overview

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. ¹⁷ Everything in that city must be destroyed as an offering to God. So you must not keep any of the things for yourselves. If you follow this command, the Lord will stop being so angry with you. He will be kind to you. He will feel sorry for you. He will let your nation grow larger, as he promised your ancestors. ¹⁸ This will happen if you listen to the Lord your God—if you obey all his commands that I give you today. You must do what the Lord your God says is right.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the children: or, naughty men, Judges 19:22, Judges 20:13, 1 Samuel 2:12, 1 Samuel 10:27, 1 Samuel 25:17, 1 Samuel 25:25, 2 Samuel 16:7, 2 Samuel 20:1, 2 Samuel 23:6, 1 Kings 21:10, 1 Kings 21:13, 2 Chronicles 13:7, John 8:44, 2 Corinthians 6:15, 1 John 3:10

Belial: Belial is derived by some from beli, not, and âl, over, i.e., one so proud and envious as not to bear a superior; by others, from beli, not, and ol, a yoke, i.e., a lawless, ungovernable person, בםהסוע נבסבםןלןי, "lawless men," as the LXX render. It is, however, more probably derived from beli, not, and yaâl, profit, i.e., a worthless person, good for nothing to himself or others, and capable of nothing but mischief.

are gone: Deuteronomy 4:19, 2 Kings 17:21, 1 John 2:19, Jude 1:19

Let us: Deuteronomy 13:2, Deuteronomy 13:6

Reciprocal: Numbers 25:4 - and hang Numbers 25:5 - Slay ye 1 Samuel 1:16 - a daughter 1 Samuel 30:22 - wicked 1 Kings 13:9 - Eat no bread Jeremiah 19:4 - burned

Cross-References

Genesis 6:11
When God looked at the earth, he saw that people had ruined it. Violence was everywhere, and it had ruined their life on earth.

Genesis 10:9
He was a great hunter before the Lord . That is why people compare other men to him and say, "That man is like Nimrod, a great hunter before the Lord ."

Genesis 13:4
This was where Abram had built an altar earlier. So he worshiped the Lord there.

Genesis 13:6
Abram and Lot had so many animals that the land could not support both of them together.

Genesis 13:8
So Abram said to Lot, "There should be no arguing between you and me or between your people and my people. We are all brothers.

Genesis 13:9
We should separate. You can choose any place you want. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left."

Genesis 13:11
So Lot chose to live in the Jordan Valley. The two men separated, and Lot began traveling east.

Genesis 15:16
After four generations your people will come to this land again and defeat the Amorites. That will happen in the future because the Amorites are not yet guilty enough to lose their land."

Genesis 18:20
Then the Lord said, "I have heard many times that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are very evil.

Genesis 38:7
But Er did many bad things. The Lord was not happy with him, so the Lord killed him.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Certain men, the children of Belial,.... Which signify either persons without a yoke, who have thrown off the yoke of God's law, and will not submit to it, or unprofitable ones, as wicked men be, both to God, themselves, and others:

are gone out from among you; not locally, but with respect to their religious sentiments and practices, having separated themselves from the people of God, and from the service of the sanctuary, the true worship of God, and a profession of it, and given into the worship of idols:

and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city; withdrawn them by the force of persuasion from the worship of the true God, and drawn them into idolatry:

saying, let us go and serve other gods; unite as one man in the worship of the gods of the Gentiles:

which ye have not known; this was not said by the children of Belial, but is added by the Lord by way of explanation, showing what gods they were that these men advised them to serve, and confirms the observation made on Deuteronomy 13:6.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In Deuteronomy 15:9 and in Nahum 1:11 the word “Belial” is rendered in our translation by the adjective “wicked.” The word means “worthlessness.”

(from Barnes’ Notes)

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 13:13. Children of Belial — בליעל, from בל bal, not, and יעל yaal, profit; - Sept. ανδρες παρανομοι, lawless men; - persons good for nothing to themselves or others, and capable of nothing but mischief.