Deuteronomy 18

1 The priests, who are Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, will have no portion nor inheritance with Israel; they must eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire as their 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 They must have no inheritance among their brothers; Yahweh is their inheritance, as he said to 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 This is the share given to the priests, given to them from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether it be an oxen or a sheep: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts.

“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 firstfruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you must give 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 Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to serve in the name of Yahweh, him and his sons forever.

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 If a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel from where he is living, and desires with all his soul to come to the place Yahweh will choose,

“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 then he must serve in the name of Yahweh his God as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh.

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 must have similar portions to eat, besides of what comes of the sale of his family's inheritance.

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 you have come into the land that Yahweh your God is giving you, you must not learn to observe the 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 There must not be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or his daughter in the fire, anyone who uses divination or tells fortunes, or reads signs found in a cup, or engages in witchcraft,

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 any charmer, anyone who conjurs up spirits, or one who casts spells, or who talks with spirits of the dead.

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

12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; it is because of these abominations that Yahweh your God is driving them out from before you.

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 You must be blameless before Yahweh your God.

But you must always avoid doing any of those things.

14 For these nations that you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and divination; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do 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 Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, one of your brothers, like me. You must listen to him.

[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 This is what you asked from Yahweh your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let us not hear again the voice of Yahweh our God, nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.'

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 Yahweh said to me, 'What they have said is good.

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

18 I will raise up a prophet for them from among their brothers, just like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command 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 It will happen that if anyone does not listen to the words of mine that he speaks 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 who speaks a word arrogantly in my name, a word that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that very prophet must 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 This is what you must say in your heart: 'How will we recognize a message that Yahweh has 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 You will recognize a message that Yahweh has spoken when a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh. If that thing does not occur nor happen, then that is something that Yahweh has not spoken and the prophet has spoken it arrogantly, and you must not 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].”