This verse instructs the people on how they are to deal with a false prophet, that is, a person who claims to be speaking for Yahweh but who in fact is not. Any Israelite who spoke in the name of other gods would not be simply a false prophet but an apostate, a betrayer of the faith.

Presumes to speak: the verb is equivalent to the adjective “presumptuous” (see 1.43; 17.13), meaning to be “arrogant,” “conceited.” Good News Translation has “dares to speak.”

A word in my name: or “a message from me” (Contemporary English Version).

That same prophet shall die: this means that such a person must be executed. So “he must die for it” (Good News Translation), or “You must kill that person.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .