< Deuteronomy 18 >
1 The priests, the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: the fire-offerings of the Lord, and his inheritance shall they consume.
2 But any inheritance shall he not have among his brethren: the Lord is his inheritance, as he hath spoken unto him.
3 And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from them that slay an animal, whether it be ox or lamb: then shall each one give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.
4 The first-fruit of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thy oil, and the first shearing of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.
5 For him the Lord thy God hath chosen out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, he and his sons all the days.
6 And if the Levite come from any one of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourneth, and come with all the longing of his soul unto the place which the Lord will choose:
7 Then can he minister in the name of the Lord his God, like all his brethren the Levites, who stand there before the Lord.
8 They shall have like portions to eat, besides that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.
9 When thou comest into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
10 There shall not be found among thee any one who causeth his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who useth divination, one who is an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a conjurer.
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or who inquireth of the dead.
12 For an abomination unto the Lord are all that do these things; and on account of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
13 Perfect shalt thou be with the Lord thy God.
14 For these nations, which thou art about to dispossess, hearken unto observers of times, and unto diviners; but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not assigned the like unto thee.
15 A prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, will the Lord thy God raise up unto thee; unto him shall ye hearken:
16 According to all that thou didst desire of the Lord thy God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, I wish no more to hear the voice of the Lord my God, and this great fire I wish not to see again, that I die not.
17 And the Lord said unto me, They have done well in what they have spoken.
18 A prophet will I raise up unto them from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I may command him.
19 And it shall come to pass, that if there be a man who will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
20 But the prophet, who may presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who may speak in the name of other Gods even that prophet shall die.
21 And if thou shouldst say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?
22 That which the prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, and the thing do not happen and come not to pass— this is the word which the Lord hath not spoken; in presumption hath the prophet spoken it; thou shalt not be afraid of him.