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 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 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.

Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he has said unto them.

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.

And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.

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.

The first-fruit also of your corn, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him.

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 him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.

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],

And if a Levite come from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall 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 minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there 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 shall have like portions to eat, beside that which comes of the sale of his patrimony.

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.

When you are come into the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

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 shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.

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

Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

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.

For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD your God does drive them out from before you.

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

You shall be perfect with 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.

For these nations, which you shall possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for you, the LORD your God has not suffered you so to do.

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 raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, like unto me; unto him all of you shall hearken;

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].

According to all that you desired of the LORD your 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 die not.

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

And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

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 will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

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

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

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].’

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

And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?

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 name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it presumptuously: you shall not be afraid of him.