Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 13:1
If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the assembled Israelites on the plains of Moab, immediately before they cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. He introduces a legal scenario concerning internal religious deception.
The words — The verb yaqum (he will arise) combined with beqirbekha (in your midst) locates the threat inside the community. The phrase cholem chalom (dreamer of a dream) identifies the second type of claimant alongside the prophet.
The thread — The warning against internal false prophets echoes in Jeremiah 29:8 and Jeremiah 23:25, while the command to discern spiritual origins is restated in 1 John 4:1.
Why it lands — The text establishes a conditional test: claimed signs do not override covenant loyalty. Readers must evaluate every claim against established divine instruction rather than empirical spectacle.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 23:25 “I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
- 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
- Jeremiah 29:8 For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Do not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among you, and do not listen to the dreams you elicit from them.
- 1 Kings 13:18 Then the prophet replied, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The old prophet was lying to him,
- Isaiah 9:15 The head is the elder and honorable man, and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies.
- Jeremiah 27:9 But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
- Mark 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
- Luke 6:26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers treated the false prophets in the same way.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9 The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,
- Jeremiah 6:13 “For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.