Deuteronomy 18:10Easy To Read VersionDon’t sacrifice your sons or daughters in the fires on your altars. [117] Don’t try to learn what will happen in the future by talking to a fortune teller or by going to a magician, a witch or a sorcerer. See the chapter |
The people refused the Lord’s laws and his Agreement that he made with their ancestors. They refused to listen to the Lord’s warnings. They worshiped idols [208] that were worth nothing and they themselves became worth nothing. They lived like the people in the nations around them. They did those bad things. And the Lord had warned the people of Israel. The Lord told them not to do those bad things.
Ahaz burned incense {\cf2\super [318]} in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. {\cf2\super [319]} He sacrificed {\cf2\super [320]} his own sons by burning them in the fire. He did the same terrible sins that the peoples living in that land did. The Lord had forced those people out when the people of Israel entered that land.
Manasseh also burned his own children for a sacrifice {\cf2\super [403]} in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. {\cf2\super [404]} Manasseh also used magic by doing soothsaying, divination, and sorcery. {\cf2\super [405]} He talked with mediums {\cf2\super [406]} and wizards. {\cf2\super [407]} Manasseh did many things that the Lord said was wrong, and this made the Lord angry.
So don’t listen to your prophets. Don’t listen to the people that use magic to tell what will happen in the future. Don’t listen to people that say they can interpret dreams. Don’t listen to people that talk to the dead or to people that practice magic. All those people tell you, “You will not be slaves to the king of Babylon.”
“In the Valley of Ben Hinnom, {\cf2\super [272]} those people built high places {\cf2\super [273]} to the false god Baal. {\cf2\super [274]} They built those worship places so that they could burn their sons and daughters as child sacrifices. I never commanded them to do such a terrible thing. I never even thought the people of Judah would do such a terrible thing.
Then I will come to you—and I will do the right thing. I will be like a person that is ready to tell the judge about the bad things people did. Some people do evil magic. Some people do the sin of adultery. {\cf2\super [19]} Some people make false promises. Some people cheat their workers—they don’t pay them the money they promised. People don’t help widows and orphans. {\cf2\super [20]} People don’t help strangers. People don’t respect me!” The Lord All-Powerful said these things.