13:6 serve other gods. The penalty in theocratic Israel for spiritual seduction to other gods than the true God was death by stoning (Deuteronomy 13:10), even if the guilty person was one’s closest and dearest friend or relative. To the modern mind, this command sounds extreme and unwarranted, but if it had been obeyed Israel would never have turned away from God and the whole course of world history would have been different.