Deuteronomy 13:9
But thou shalt presently put him to death. It Let thy hand be first upon him, and afterwards the hands of all the people.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- sed statim interficies : sit primum manus tua super eum, et postea omnis populus mittat manum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἀναγγέλλων ἀναγγελεῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ, αἱ χεῖρές σου ἔσονται ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐν πρώτοις ἀποκτεῖναι αὐτόν, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ ἐπ᾽ ἐσχάτῳ·
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Deuteronomy 13:10
- כִּ֤י הָרֹג֙ תַּֽהַרְגֶ֔נּוּ יָֽדְךָ֛ תִּֽהְיֶה בּ֥וֹ בָרִֽאשׁוֹנָ֖ה לַהֲמִית֑וֹ וְיַ֥ד כָּל הָעָ֖ם בָּאַחֲרֹנָֽה
Haydock's commentary
Presently put him to death. Not by killing him by private authority, but by informing the magistrate, and proceeding by order of justice. (Challoner) (Worthington)
Philo seems to assert the contrary. But he perhaps speaks of those who publicly endeavoured to lead the people astray. Presently is not in Hebrew. Other criminals were allowed twenty-four hours after condemnation. No delay was granted to false prophets. No excuse was admitted. If he had even been once acquitted, he might be examined again.
Thy hand. The accuser or witness first threw a stone, after the wretch had been conducted out of the city, chap. xvii. 4., and Acts vii. 58.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Cyprian Treatise XI, Chapter V
In Deuteronomy: “But if thy brother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or thy wife which is in thy bosom, or thy friend which is the fellow of thine own soul, should ask thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, the gods of the nations, thou shalt not consent unto him, and thou shalt not hearken unto him, neither shall thine eye spare him, neither shalt thou conceal him, declaring thou shalt declare concerning him. Thine hand shall be upon him first of all to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people; and they shall stone him, and he shall die, because he hath sought to turn thee away from the Lord thy God.” And again the Lord speaks, and says, that neither must a city be spared, even though the whole city should consent to idolatry: “Or if thou shalt hear in one of the cities which the Lord thy God shall give thee, to dwell there, saying, Let us go and serve ot …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Riparius
3. You may perhaps in your secret thoughts find fault with me for thus assailing a man behind his back. I will frankly admit that my indignation overpowers me; I cannot listen with patience to such sacrilegious opinions. I have read of the javelin of Phinehas, of the harshness of Elijah, of the jealous anger of Simon the zealot, of the severity of Peter in putting to death Ananias and Sapphira, and of the firmness of Paul who, when Elymas the sorcerer withstood the ways of the Lord, doomed him to lifelong blindness. There is no cruelty in regard for God’s honour. …