What Does Deuteronomy 13:13 Mean?
Certain men, the children of Belial, have gone out from among you, and have pushed away those who settle in their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known;
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
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Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;THE KEY
A voice does not merely propose another belief; it can drive a whole city into a new service.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you about a voice rising from within your own community and drawing people away from what they know. Its pull reaches beyond private belief: a whole city’s service turns toward unfamiliar gods.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that persuasion changes only private thoughts: here, it redirects a city’s shared allegiance and service.
THE ROOT
וַיַּדִּיחוּ
wayyaddichu
GROWS FROM
נדח
To push or drive away, thrust out, or banish.
“pushed away” in this verse is wayyaddichu. The root holds both persuasion and displacement: the people are drawn away, and the community is driven from its familiar allegiance. English “withdrawn” carries that movement, while the Hebrew root makes the force of being driven away more visible.
ALSO GROWS
hiddiach: To cause to stray, entice away, or thrust aside.
הִדִּיחַ
This form appears in Deuteronomy 13:5 for turning someone out of the commanded way, showing the path beneath the persuasion.
niddach: One driven out or banished.
נִדָּח
Deuteronomy 30:4 uses this form for the one driven out, connecting the voice that leads people away with the displacement that follows.
נַעַבְדָה
na'avdah
GROWS FROM
עבד
To work, labor, or serve.
“serve” in this verse is na'avdah. The invitation reaches beyond what people say they believe: this root also names work and the servant. Service here is an allegiance that claims the direction of a life.
ALSO GROWS
avad: To work or serve.
עָבַד
This verb carries both labor and service, showing the whole-life reach of the invitation.
eved: A servant or worker.
עֶבֶד
The noun shares the root, connecting the act of serving with the role a person takes on.
יְדַעְתֶּם
yedatem
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know, recognize, or perceive.
“have not known” in this verse is yedatem. The phrase marks these gods as outside what the people know and recognize. The movement is from familiar allegiance toward service of what is unfamiliar.
ALSO GROWS
yada: To know, recognize, or perceive.
יָדַע
This is the base verb behind “which ye have not known,” linking the contrast to recognition and knowing.
de'ah: Knowledge or understanding.
דֵּעָה
This noun grows from the same root, showing how knowing and what is known share the same word-family.
THE PATTERN
A voice is revealed by the allegiance it draws people toward and the service that follows.
And if it seems evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you settle. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long will you limp on two branches? If the LORD is God, walk after him, but if Baal, then walk after him. And the people answered him not a word.For false anointed ones will rise, and false prophets, and they will give great signs and wonders, so that, if it were possible, even the picked-out ones are led off the path.THE THREAD
If any of yours are driven away to the outermost edge of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you.The Hebrew verb behind “have withdrawn,” וַיַּדִּיחוּ (wayyaddichu), comes from נדח (nadach), “drive away, thrust out”; Deuteronomy 30:4 uses the same root for the one “driven out.” The root shows the movement from both sides: a voice driving people away, and the scattered person whom God gathers.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us