Deuteronomy 18

1 “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.

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.

2 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.

While they don't own land among the other tribes, the Lord takes care of them, as he promised.

3 “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.

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.

4 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.

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.

5 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.

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.

6 “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],

If a Levite is convinced he should move from any Israelite town and goes to the place the Lord will choose,

7 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.

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.

8 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.

They will all receive the same food allowances, despite him having received money from the sale of his father's property.

9 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.

Once you enter the country the Lord your God is giving you, don't copy the offensive ways of the nations there.

10 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).

There should be no one who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or fortune-telling, uses magic or sorcery,

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

practices witchcraft, visits a medium or spiritist, or communicates with the dead. Anyone does such things offends the Lord.

12 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.

It's because of these offensive things that the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you.

13 But you must always avoid doing any of those things.

You are to be innocent of such things in the presence of the Lord your God.

14 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.

Even though these nations, whose land you will occupy, listen to magicians and fortune-tellers, the Lord your God forbids you to do so.

15 [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.

The Lord your God will send you a prophet like me from your people. You must listen to him.

16 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].

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!”

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

Then the Lord told me, “They are right in what they're saying.

18 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.

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.

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

I will deal with anyone who does not listen to my message that the prophet speaks in my name.

20 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].’

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.”

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

You may be wondering, “How can we be sure that a message hasn't come from the Lord?”

22 [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].”

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.