Deuteronomy 18

1 The Levitical priests—indeed the whole tribe of Levi—shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the offerings made by fire to the LORD; that is their inheritance.

“The priests and the Levites, and all who are from the same tribe, shall have no portion or inheritance with the rest of Israel. For they shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord and his oblations.

2 Although they have no inheritance among their brothers, the LORD is their inheritance, as He promised them.

And they shall receive nothing else from the possession of their brothers. For the Lord himself is their inheritance, just as he said to them.

3 This shall be the priests’ share from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether a bull or a sheep: the priests are to be given the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach.

This shall be the recompense for the priests from the people, and from those who offer victims, whether they will immolate an ox or a sheep. They shall give to the priest the shoulder and the breast,

4 You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool sheared from your flock.

the first-fruits of grain, wine, and oil, and a portion of the wool from the shearing of the sheep.

5 For the LORD your God has chosen Levi and his sons out of all your tribes to stand and minister in His name for all time.

For the Lord your God himself has chosen him out of all your tribes, so that he may stand and minister to the name of the Lord, him and his sons, forever.

6 Now if a Levite moves from any town of residence throughout Israel and comes in all earnestness to the place the LORD will choose,

If a Levite departs from one of the cities, throughout all of Israel, in which he lives, and if he wills and desires to go to the place which the Lord will choose,

7 then he shall serve in the name of the LORD his God like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the LORD.

he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as do all his brothers, the Levites, who will be standing at that time in the sight of the Lord.

8 They shall eat equal portions, even though he has received money from the sale of his father’s estate.

He shall receive the same portion of food as the rest also receive, besides that which is due to him in his own city, by succession from his fathers.

9 When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.

When you will have entered into the land which the Lord your God will give to you, be careful that you are not willing to imitate the abominations of those nations.

10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery,

Do not let there be found among you one who would purify his son or daughter by leading them through fire, nor one who consults seers, nor one who observes dreams or omens. Do not let there be found among you one who practices the occult,

11 casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead.

nor one who uses spells, nor one who consults demonic spirits, nor a diviner, nor one who seeks the truth from the dead.

12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you.

For the Lord abominates all these things. And, because of these wicked ways, he will destroy them at your arrival.

13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

You shall be perfect and without blemish with the Lord your God.

14 Though these nations, which you will dispossess, listen to conjurers and diviners, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.

These nations, whose land you shall possess, they listen to soothsayers and diviners. But you have been otherwise instructed by the Lord your God.

15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him.

The Lord your God will raise up for you a PROPHET from your nation and from your brothers, similar to me. You shall listen to him,

16 This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”

just as you petitioned of the Lord your God at Horeb, when the assembly was gathered together, and you said: ‘Let me no longer hear the voice of the Lord my God, and let me no longer see this very great fire, lest I die.’

17 Then the LORD said to me, “They have spoken well.

And the Lord said to me: ‘They have spoken all these things well.

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

I will raise up a prophet for them, from the midst of their brothers, similar to you. And I will place my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all the things that I will instruct him.

19 And I will hold accountable anyone who does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name.

But against anyone who is not willing to listen to his words, which he will speak in my name, I will stand forth as the avenger.

20 But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.”

But if a prophet, having been corrupted by arrogance, chooses to speak, in my name, things which I did not instruct him to say, or to speak in the name of foreign gods, he shall be put to death.

21 You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?”

But if, in silent thought, you respond: “How will I be able to recognize a word which the Lord has not spoken?”

22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

you shall have this sign. If whatever that prophet predicts in the name of the Lord does not happen, then the Lord has not spoken it. Instead, the prophet has formed it through the swelling of his own mind. And for this reason, you shall not fear him.’”