Deuteronomy 18
1 The Levitical priests, in fact the whole tribe of Levi, will not have a share in the land allotment with the other Israelites. They are to eat from the food offerings presented to the Lord—that is what they are entitled to receive.
The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance.
2 While they don't own land among the other tribes, the Lord takes care of them, as he promised.
Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said to them.
3 The priests' share of a sacrifice of a bull or a sheep that is brought by the people is as follows. The priests are to be given the shoulder, the jaw, and the insides.
And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether ox or sheep; and they shall give to the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the stomach.
4 You are to provide them with the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the first wool sheared from your flock.
The firstfruit also of thy grain, of thy wine, and of thy oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.
5 For the Lord your God has chosen Levi and his descendants from all your tribes to stand before him and serve in his name forever.
For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.
6 If a Levite is convinced he should move from any Israelite town and goes to the place the Lord will choose,
And if a Levite shall come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind to the place which the LORD shall choose;
7 then he shall be allowed to serve in the name of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who stand there in service before the Lord.
Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the LORD.
8 They will all receive the same food allowances, despite him having received money from the sale of his father's property.
They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of their fathers’ estates.
9 Once you enter the country the Lord your God is giving you, don't copy the offensive ways of the nations there.
When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
10 There should be no one who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or fortune-telling, uses magic or sorcery,
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11 practices witchcraft, visits a medium or spiritist, or communicates with the dead. Anyone does such things offends the Lord.
Or a charmer, or a consulter with mediums, or a wizard, or one who calls up the dead.
12 It's because of these offensive things that the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you.
For all that do these things are an abomination to the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
13 You are to be innocent of such things in the presence of the Lord your God.
Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
14 Even though these nations, whose land you will occupy, listen to magicians and fortune-tellers, the Lord your God forbids you to do so.
For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened to observers of times, and to diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not permitted thee so to do.
15 The Lord your God will send you a prophet like me from your people. You must listen to him.
The LORD thy God will raise up to thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like me; to him ye shall hearken;
16 Remember what you told the Lord your God at Horeb when you were all assembled there. You said, “Please don't let us go on hearing the Lord our God speak to us, or see this terrifying fire anymore! Otherwise we're going to die!”
According to all that thou didst desire of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I may not die.
17 Then the Lord told me, “They are right in what they're saying.
And the LORD said to me, They have well spoken of that which they have spoken.
18 I'm going to send them a prophet like you from their people. I will give him my messages, and he will tell them everything I order him to say.
I will raise up to them a Prophet from among their brethren, like thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.
19 I will deal with anyone who does not listen to my message that the prophet speaks in my name.
And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not hearken to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
20 However, if any prophet claims to be delivering a message in my name that I have not ordered him to give, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must be executed.”
But the prophet, who shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
21 You may be wondering, “How can we be sure that a message hasn't come from the Lord?”
And if thou shalt say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
22 When a prophet speaks in the Lord's name and what he says doesn't happen or come true, then that is a not a message from the Lord. The prophet has spoken with contempt for the Lord. Don't be intimidated by him.
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing doth not follow, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
