16. He who leads a Town astray

Tractate Sanhedrin, Herbert Danby tr. [1919], at sacred-texts.com

16. He who leads a Town astray.

M.VII. 10b. The one who leads a town astray ³ is he who says outright, "Let us go and worship idols."

T. XI. 5 b. R. Shimeon the son of Jehuda said in the name of R. Shimeon, "He who leads a town astray is to die by strangulation," ⁴

Footnotes

106:3 Deut. 13. 12 ff. Verse 16 orders that all those who are led astray are to he put to the sword; cf. Mishnah. X. 7. But since in the case of the mesith, "the beguiler" (Deut. 13. 6), who is expressly condemned to be stoned, the word l’haddiḥ’ka, "to lead thee astray," is used, stoning must apply to him also, on the principle of gezera shawa; i.e. the misleader is to be stoned, and the misled decapitated.

106:4 R. Shimeon places such a man in the category of the false prophet, Mishnah XI. 5.