What Does Deuteronomy 13:5 Mean?
And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be made to die; because he has spoken to turn you aside from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and ransomed you from the house of bondage, to push you off the way the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall burn out the evil from your midst.
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
And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath 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 thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.THE KEY
The passage names as evil a prophetic voice that tries to reverse the Exodus by driving you back off the path of release.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you with a stark command: the prophet or dreamer who turns you away from the LORD is to be put to death. The stated reason is that this voice pulls you from the way commanded by the one who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from bondage. The danger is a reversal of deliverance: the voice drives you off that path, and the evil is to be removed from your midst.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A prophetic title or a dream does not by itself make a voice trustworthy; this verse tests it by whether it turns you away from the liberating way.
THE ROOT
לְהַדִּיחֲךָ
lehadiachkha
GROWS FROM
נדח
nadach
To thrust away, drive off, or banish.
“push off the way” in this verse is lehadiachkha. The root makes the prophet’s speech an active shove away from the way, not a passing doubt. The same root can describe people driven away and scattered, which is why Deuteronomy 30:4 opens this verse further.
ALSO GROWS
hiddiach: To drive away or lead astray.
הִדִּיחַ
This branch shows how the voice acts: it pushes a person away from the commanded way.
niddach: One driven away or cast out.
נִדָּח
This branch names the person on the receiving end of the same force, connecting the prophet’s aim to the scattered one whom God gathers.
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
צרר
tsarar
To bind, press, or constrain.
“Egypt” in this verse is Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim carries the resonance of metzarim, narrow places: the verse recalls the house of bondage as constriction from which you are brought out. The false prophet reverses that movement, drawing you back toward the narrow instead of onward toward release.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow or constricted; also an adversary.
צַר
The narrowness in this branch gives the bondage of Egypt its inner shape: a life pressed into constraint.
metzar: A narrow place, strait, or distress.
מֵצַר
This branch makes the Exodus movement visible as a passage out of constriction.
הַמּוֹצִיא
hammotsi
GROWS FROM
יצא
yatsa
To go out or come forth.
“brought you out” in this verse is hammotsi. The form names the LORD as the one bringing you out, so deliverance is movement away from bondage. The verse sets that outward motion against the prophet’s attempt to drive you off the way.
ALSO GROWS
hotsi: To bring out or lead forth.
הוֹצִיא
This causative branch names the act of bringing someone out, the motion that defines the verse’s remembered deliverance.
yetsi'ah: Going out, departure, or exit.
יְצִיאָה
This branch shows deliverance as an actual crossing out of the place that confines.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance moves a person out of bondage and guards against being turned back into its yoke.
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.He brings them out of darkness and the valley of deepest darkness, and tears their bonds apart.Stand, then, in the freedom for which the Anointed One set us free, and do not be caught again in the yoke of slavery.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.“Driven out” uses the same נדח root as “to thrust thee out” here. The root names the false prophet’s aim in this verse, then names the scattered person whom the LORD gathers from the farthest edge.
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