Deuteronomy 18

1 The Priests of the Leuites, and all the tribe of Leui shall haue no part nor inheritace with Israel, but shall eate the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his inheritance.

“The priests, who are all from the tribe of Levi, will not receive any land in Israel. Instead, they will receive some of the food that other people offer to be burned [on the altar to be sacrificed] to Yahweh and some of the other sacrifices that will be offered to Yahweh.

2 Therefore shall they haue no inheritance among their brethren: for the Lord is their inheritance, as he hath sayd vnto them.

They will not be allotted any land like the other tribes will be. What they will receive is the work/privilege of being Yahweh’s [priests], which is what he said that they should have.

3 And this shalbe the Priests duetie of the people, that they, which offer sacrifice, whether it be bullocke or sheepe, shall giue vnto the Priest the shoulder, and the two cheekes, and the mawe.

“When the people bring an ox or a sheep to be sacrificed, they must give to the priests the shoulder, the cheeks/jaws, and the stomach of those animals.

4 The first fruites also of thy corne, of thy wine, and of thine oyle, and the first of the fleece of thy sheepe shalt thou giue him.

You must also give to them the first part of the grain that you [harvest], and the first part of the wine [that you make], and the first part of the [olive] oil [that you make], and the first part of the wool that you shear from your sheep.

5 For the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stande and minister in the Name of the Lord, him, and his sonnes for euer.

You must do this because Yahweh our God has chosen the tribe of Levi from all of your tribes, in order that men [from that tribe] would always be the priests who would serve him.

6 Also when a Leuite shall come out of any of thy cities of all Israel, where hee remained, and come with all the desire of his heart vnto the place, which the Lord shall chuse,

“If any man from the tribe of Levi [who has been living] in one of the towns in Israel wants to come from there to the place of worship that Yahweh has chosen, [and start living there],

7 He shall then minister in the Name of the Lord his God, as all his brethren the Leuites, which remaine there before the Lord.

he is permitted to serve Yahweh there as a priest, just like the other men from the tribe of Levi who have been serving there.

8 They shall haue like portions to eat beside that which commeth of his sale of his patrimonie.

He must be given the same amount of food [that the other priests receive]. He is permitted to keep the money [that his relatives give him] for selling some of their possessions.

9 When thou shalt come into ye land which the Lord thy God giueth thee, thou shalt not learne to do after ye abominations of those nations.

When you enter the land that Yahweh our God is giving you, you must not imitate the disgusting things that the people-groups who are there now do.

10 Let none be founde among you that maketh his sonne or his daughter to goe thorough the fire, or that vseth witchcraft, or a regarder of times, or a marker of the flying of foules, or a sorcerer,

You must not sacrifice any of your children by burning them [on your altars]. Do not practice (divination/using supernatural power to reveal [what will happen in] the future). Do not do/practice (soothsaying/magic to find out what will happen in the future). Do not (interpret omens/say that because of something that you have seen you know what will happen). Do not practice sorcery/witchcraft. Do not practice (putting spells on people/saying things to cause bad things to happen to others).

11 Or a charmer, or that counselleth with spirits, or a soothsaier, or that asketh counsel at ye dead.

Do not try to talk with spirits of dead people. Do not do/practice magic.

12 For all that doe such things are abomination vnto the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doeth cast them out before thee.

Yahweh hates people who do any of those disgusting things. And as you advance through that land, he is going to expel the people-groups because they do/practice those disgusting things.

13 Thou shalt be vpright therefore with the Lord thy God.

But you must always avoid doing any of those things.

14 For these nations which thou shalt possesse, hearken vnto those that regarde the times, and vnto sorcerers: as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffred thee so.

The people-groups that you are about to expel [from the land that you will occupy] (consult/seek advice from) soothsayers and those who practice divination. But as for you, Yahweh our God does not allow you to do that.

15 The Lord thy God will raise vp vnto thee a Prophet like vnto me, from among you, euen of thy brethren: vnto him ye shall hearken,

[Some day] he will send from among you a prophet like me. [He is the one who will tell you what will happen in the future], and he is the one whom you must heed.

16 According to al that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of the assemblie, when thou saidest, Let me heare the voice of my Lord God no more, nor see this great fire any more, that I die not.

On the day that your ancestors were gathered at the bottom of Sinai Mountain, they pleaded with me saying, ‘We do not want Yahweh to speak [MTY] to us again, and we do not want to see this huge fire [that is burning on the mountain]!’ [Your ancestors said that because they were afraid] that they would die [if Yahweh spoke to them again].

17 And the Lord sayde vnto me, They haue well spoken.

Then Yahweh said to me, ‘What they have said is true/wise.

18 I will raise them vp a Prophet from among their brethren like vnto thee, and will put my woordes in his mouth, and he shall speake vnto them all that I shall commaund him.

So I will send from among them a prophet who will be like you. I will tell him what to say, and then he will tell people everything that I tell him to say.

19 And whosoeuer will not hearken vnto my wordes, which he shall speake in my Name, I will require it of him.

He will speak for me. And I will punish anyone who does not heed what he says.

20 But the prophet that shall presume to speake a worde in my name, which I haue not commanded him to speake, or that speaketh in the name of other gods, euen the same prophet shall die.

But if any other [person says that he is a] prophet [and] dares to speak a message which he falsely says comes from me but which I did not tell him to speak, or if anyone who speaks a message that he says other gods [MTY] have revealed to him, he must be executed [for doing that].’

21 And if thou thinke in thine heart, Howe shall we knowe the worde which the Lord hath not spoken?

But if you say to yourself, ‘How can we know if a message [that someone tells us] does not come from Yahweh?’

22 When a prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord, if the thing follow not nor come to passe, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not therefore be afraid of him.

[The answer is that] when someone speaks a message [about what will happen in the future], a message that he says was revealed by Yahweh, if what he says does not happen, [you will know that] the message did not come from Yahweh. That person has wrongly claimed that it was revealed to him by Yahweh. So you do not need to be afraid of [anything that] he [says].”