The 16th prohibition is that we are forbidden from leading someone astray by encouraging [even] one Jew to serve idolatry. The person who does so is called a meisis, as we have explained above.1
The verse which is the source of this commandment is G‑d's statement (exalted be He), regarding a meisis,2 "'[If your maternal brother tries to lead you astray…secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve false gods…You shall put him to death…] and they shall no longer do such an evil thing in your midst."
One who transgresses this prohibition, i.e. the one who incites another Jew [towards idolatry] is liable to execution by stoning, as the verse states,3 "You must certainly kill him." The one whom the meisis tried to incite should be the one to perform the execution, as in G‑d's statement (exalted be He),4 "Your hand shall be the first against him to kill him." In the words of the Sifri, "The one who was incited is commanded to execute him."
The details of this mitzvah have been explained in the seventh chapter of Sanhedrin.5
