Deuteronomy 13:2

2 and the sign or the wonder comes [about] that he spoke to you, {saying}, 'Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,'

Deuteronomy 13:2 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 13:2

And the sign and wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto
thee
The sign he promised to give, or the miracle he proposed to do, to show the reality of his mission, and the truth of his doctrine, which is performed, or seemingly performed, by legerdemain, by magic art, or by the help of the devil; which the Lord sometimes suffered for the trial of the faith and obedience of his people, and for the hardening of others in their unbelief, and which issues in their destruction; see ( 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 ) ,

saying, let us go after other gods (which thou hast not known), and let
us serve them;
other gods besides the one living and true God, the Creator of all things; strange gods, the idols of the people, as the Targum of Jonathan; such as they had never heard of, nor had any knowledge of, nor any benefit from, as they had of the Lord their God. Now the doctrines of these, and of their worship, are what the false prophet or dreamer is supposed to come with, and inculcate into the minds of the people; and for the confirmation of which, and in order to draw them into the reception of them, and act according to them, he proposed to give a sign or wonder.

Deuteronomy 13:2 In-Context

1 "If a prophet stands up in your midst or a dreamer of dreams and he gives to you a sign or wonder,
2 and the sign or the wonder comes [about] that he spoke to you, {saying}, 'Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,'
3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer, for Yahweh your God {is testing you to know whether you love} Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all [of] your inner self.
4 You shall go after Yahweh your God, and him you shall revere, and his commandment you shall keep, and to his voice you shall listen, and him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.
5 But that prophet or the dreamer of that dream shall be executed, for he spoke falsely about Yahweh your God, the [one] bringing you out from the land of Egypt and the [one] redeeming you from the house of slavery, in order to seduce you from the way that Yahweh your God commanded you to go in it; so [in this way] you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Footnotes 3

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.