Deuteronomy 13:6

"If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, that is as thine own soul, entice thee, secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; of the gods of the people that are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; thou shalt not consent unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: but thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him to death with stones, because he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee."

Strangely, "father and mother" are not listed here, along with other close kin, and, from this, Cook supposed that, "This could imply that no one was obligated to impeach father or mother."[14]

"The son of thy mother ..." (Deuteronomy 13:6). "These words are probably not intended to identify the person spoken of here as a half-brother, but for the purpose of showing the closeness of the relationship."[15] This requirement that one should not even spare the closest of kin was "also the requirement in ancient international treaties and suzerainty covenants."[16] Note the piling up of the terminology in Deuteronomy 13:8, "do not consent, nor hearken, pity not, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal ... etc," "This makes the commandment all the more impressive."[17]

There would appear to be a number of reasons why the form of death in capital cases was made to be stoning. "This was the only form of capital punishment recognized in Hebrew law. Perhaps it originated in a desire to avoid the shedding of blood."[18] Another reason may have been in the requirement that the condemned person be not touched by another!