DEUTERONOMY 13
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Deuteronomy Chapter 13

Verses 1-5. No doctrine is to be listened to which tends to draw away the mind from the Lord's Divine Humanity.
Verses 6-18. Everything which draws away the soul from the Lord is to be utterly rejected.

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder,

If any doctrine should be presented to the mind, or persuasion arise therein, with reasons or inducements for regulating the life or belief in any particular,

And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them;

And the reasons or inducements offered seem on the surface to be good and true, and from them the thought arises in the heart that there are other things which should be worshiped supremely besides the perfections which are in the Lord's Humanity, and different to what He has revealed to the soul, and that these other things should be followed as the supreme good,

You shall not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proves you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

You shall not hearken to the false arguments of that doctrine, or the enticements of that persuasion, for these are permitted by the Divine Love and Wisdom to act on the soul to prove it, to know whether it sincerely loves genuine good and truth with all the will and with all the understanding.

You shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave to him.

You shall constantly regulate the life by the Divine Love and Wisdom, and fear exceedingly to act against them; you shall do what you know to be the Lord's will, and carefully attend to every perception of it that is given you, and you shall serve Him, and cleave to Him in all circumstances.

And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he has spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust you out of the way which the LORD your God commanded you to walk in. So shall you put the evil away from the midst of you.

And that false doctrine, or that evil persuasion which endeavoured to pervert the will, shall be destroyed out of the soul; because its influence tended to draw away the soul from the genuine goodness and truth which are in the Lord, as revealed in His Humanity alone—which brought the soul from its unregenerate condition and from the bondage of hereditary evils—and to thrust out the soul from regulating the life by the perception given of the Divine Love and Wisdom. Thus will evil be removed from the interiors of your soul.

If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, which is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, you, nor your fathers;

If the hereditary evil that is born with you, and derived from the principles on which you were brought up, or the thoughts and affections which are brought forth from your own natural disposition, or the affection which is joined to your interior will, and is the delight of your life, or the doctrine of truth which you have loved and regarded as your very life, is perceived to be secretly drawing away the soul from the Lord and inducing it to worship other things supremely, and to believe false doctrines which will not accord with your religious life derived from the Word, nor with any genuine good derived from the Lord;

Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth;

Doctrines which accord with the falses of hereditary evil which envelop the soul, whether they seem like the true principles you have received from the Lord or diverse from them, whether in first principles or ultimates and externals of the Church within you;

You shall not consent to him, nor hearken to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him:

You shall not consent to them, nor listen to them; neither shall your understanding favour that false doctrine, or spare it, or endeavour to excuse or cloak it over in the mind.

But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

But you shall surely blot it out of the soul; the interior will shall be foremost in the endeavour to destroy it, and shall be seconded by the endeavours of all the faculties within the soul.

And you shall stone him with stones, that he die; because he has sought to thrust you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

You shall blot it out with genuine truths from the Word till it is destroyed, because its tendency was to thrust you away from the Love and Wisdom revealed in the Divine Humanity, which brought you forth out of your unregenerate condition and from the bondage of hereditary evil.

And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.

And all that is spiritual in the soul will perceive its evil tendency, and fear to act against the Lord as revealed in the Divine Humanity, and will no more follow after the evil that this would certainly bring upon you.

If you shall hear say in one of your cities, which the LORD your God has given you to dwell there, saying,

And if you shall perceive in one of your doctrines, which have been given you from the Divine Love and Wisdom for the establishment of the soul,

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 you have not known;

That falses derived from the love of evil have departed from the true love of the Lord, and have turned aside that doctrine of truth from its original purity, and made it a means to serve other things supremely than the Lord's Divine Humanity—no knowledge of which has been given you by the Lord through the Word—

Then shall you enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is worked among you;

Then you shall inquire, and make search, and diligently explore that doctrine; and behold, if it be true and certain that such pernicious tendencies to turn away from the Lord exist in the soul,

You shall surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

You shall surely destroy the falses existing in that doctrine with pure truth from the Word, utterly blotting it out of the mind and everything derived from it, and the evil affections in the natural mind belonging to it, with the unsparing application of genuine truth.

And you shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shall burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD your God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

And you shall collect and gather together in the mind all the falsifications of truth which proceed from that falsity, and place them with its primary principle, and reject the doctrine as something denied with the filthy fires of evil loves proceeding from hell, together with every falsified truth adhering to it, for the sake of Divine Love and Wisdom which comes from the Lord alone; and it shall be entirely rejected and not allowed to spring up in the soul again.

And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to your hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion upon you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers;

And there shall remain nothing of what averts from the Lord in your will and act; that the influx of life Divine into the soul be not turned into the evil of self-love, and that He may have mercy upon you, and fill you with the Divine Love, and replenish you with genuine truths, according to the promises in the Word to those who are in genuine goods from Himself,

When you shall hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

When you shall obey the perception that you have of the Divine Love and Wisdom, and carry out all that is perceived in the mind in its states of illustration from the Word, and act in accordance with the genuine wisdom which flows from the Divine Humanity.

DEUTERONOMY 13 Other translations - previous - next - notes - discussion - Deuteronomy - BM Home - Full Page

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder,	If any doctrine should be presented to the mind, or persuasion arise therein, with reasons or inducements for regulating the life or belief in any particular,
And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them;	And the reasons or inducements offered seem on the surface to be good and true, and from them the thought arises in the heart that there are other things which should be worshiped supremely besides the perfections which are in the Lord's Humanity, and different to what He has revealed to the soul, and that these other things should be followed as the supreme good,
You shall not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proves you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.	You shall not hearken to the false arguments of that doctrine, or the enticements of that persuasion, for these are permitted by the Divine Love and Wisdom to act on the soul to prove it, to know whether it sincerely loves genuine good and truth with all the will and with all the understanding.
You shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave to him.	You shall constantly regulate the life by the Divine Love and Wisdom, and fear exceedingly to act against them; you shall do what you know to be the Lord's will, and carefully attend to every perception of it that is given you, and you shall serve Him, and cleave to Him in all circumstances.
And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he has spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust you out of the way which the LORD your God commanded you to walk in. So shall you put the evil away from the midst of you.	And that false doctrine, or that evil persuasion which endeavoured to pervert the will, shall be destroyed out of the soul; because its influence tended to draw away the soul from the genuine goodness and truth which are in the Lord, as revealed in His Humanity alone—which brought the soul from its unregenerate condition and from the bondage of hereditary evils—and to thrust out the soul from regulating the life by the perception given of the Divine Love and Wisdom. Thus will evil be removed from the interiors of your soul.
If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, which is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known, you, nor your fathers;	If the hereditary evil that is born with you, and derived from the principles on which you were brought up, or the thoughts and affections which are brought forth from your own natural disposition, or the affection which is joined to your interior will, and is the delight of your life, or the doctrine of truth which you have loved and regarded as your very life, is perceived to be secretly drawing away the soul from the Lord and inducing it to worship other things supremely, and to believe false doctrines which will not accord with your religious life derived from the Word, nor with any genuine good derived from the Lord;
Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth;	Doctrines which accord with the falses of hereditary evil which envelop the soul, whether they seem like the true principles you have received from the Lord or diverse from them, whether in first principles or ultimates and externals of the Church within you;
You shall not consent to him, nor hearken to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him:	You shall not consent to them, nor listen to them; neither shall your understanding favour that false doctrine, or spare it, or endeavour to excuse or cloak it over in the mind.
But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.	But you shall surely blot it out of the soul; the interior will shall be foremost in the endeavour to destroy it, and shall be seconded by the endeavours of all the faculties within the soul.
And you shall stone him with stones, that he die; because he has sought to thrust you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.	You shall blot it out with genuine truths from the Word till it is destroyed, because its tendency was to thrust you away from the Love and Wisdom revealed in the Divine Humanity, which brought you forth out of your unregenerate condition and from the bondage of hereditary evil.
And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.	And all that is spiritual in the soul will perceive its evil tendency, and fear to act against the Lord as revealed in the Divine Humanity, and will no more follow after the evil that this would certainly bring upon you.
If you shall hear say in one of your cities, which the LORD your God has given you to dwell there, saying,	And if you shall perceive in one of your doctrines, which have been given you from the Divine Love and Wisdom for the establishment of the soul,
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 you have not known;	That falses derived from the love of evil have departed from the true love of the Lord, and have turned aside that doctrine of truth from its original purity, and made it a means to serve other things supremely than the Lord's Divine Humanity—no knowledge of which has been given you by the Lord through the Word—
Then shall you enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is worked among you;	Then you shall inquire, and make search, and diligently explore that doctrine; and behold, if it be true and certain that such pernicious tendencies to turn away from the Lord exist in the soul,
You shall surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.	You shall surely destroy the falses existing in that doctrine with pure truth from the Word, utterly blotting it out of the mind and everything derived from it, and the evil affections in the natural mind belonging to it, with the unsparing application of genuine truth.
And you shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shall burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD your God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.	And you shall collect and gather together in the mind all the falsifications of truth which proceed from that falsity, and place them with its primary principle, and reject the doctrine as something denied with the filthy fires of evil loves proceeding from hell, together with every falsified truth adhering to it, for the sake of Divine Love and Wisdom which comes from the Lord alone; and it shall be entirely rejected and not allowed to spring up in the soul again.
And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to your hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion upon you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers;	And there shall remain nothing of what averts from the Lord in your will and act; that the influx of life Divine into the soul be not turned into the evil of self-love, and that He may have mercy upon you, and fill you with the Divine Love, and replenish you with genuine truths, according to the promises in the Word to those who are in genuine goods from Himself,
When you shall hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.	When you shall obey the perception that you have of the Divine Love and Wisdom, and carry out all that is perceived in the mind in its states of illustration from the Word, and act in accordance with the genuine wisdom which flows from the Divine Humanity.