Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Print Page Options Listen to Deuteronomy 18-20
Close NIV

Deuteronomy 18-20
New International Version

Offerings for Priests and Levites

18 The Levitical(A) priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings(B) presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance.(C) 2 They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,(D) as he promised them.(E)

3 This is the share due the priests(F) from the people who sacrifice a bull(G) or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head.(H) 4 You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,(I) 5 for the Lord your God has chosen them(J) and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister(K) in the Lord’s name always.(L)

6 If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose,(M) 7 he may minister in the name(N) of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. 8 He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.(O)

Occult Practices

9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate(P) the detestable ways(Q) of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire,(R) who practices divination(S) or sorcery,(T) interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,(U) 11 or casts spells,(V) or who is a medium or spiritist(W) or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.(X) 13 You must be blameless(Y) before the Lord your God.(Z)

The Prophet

14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination.(AA) But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.(AB) You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”(AC)

17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet(AD) like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words(AE) in his mouth.(AF) He will tell them everything I command him.(AG) 19 I myself will call to account(AH) anyone who does not listen(AI) to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.(AJ) 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods,(AK) is to be put to death.”(AL)

21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true,(AM) that is a message the Lord has not spoken.(AN) That prophet has spoken presumptuously,(AO) so do not be alarmed.

Cities of Refuge(AP)

19 When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses,(AQ) 2 then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3 Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.

4 This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. 5 For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. 6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood(AR) might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. 7 This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

8 If the Lord your God enlarges your territory,(AS) as he promised(AT) on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, 9 because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him(AU)—then you are to set aside three more cities. 10 Do this so that innocent blood(AV) will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.(AW)

11 But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor,(AX) and then flees to one of these cities, 12 the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. 13 Show no pity.(AY) You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood,(AZ) so that it may go well with you.

14 Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.(BA)

Witnesses

15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.(BB)

16 If a malicious witness(BC) takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, 17 the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges(BD) who are in office at the time. 18 The judges must make a thorough investigation,(BE) and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, 19 then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party.(BF) You must purge the evil from among you. 20 The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid,(BG) and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. 21 Show no pity:(BH) life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.(BI)

Going to War

20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours,(BJ) do not be afraid(BK) of them,(BL) because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with(BM) you. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted(BN) or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. 4 For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you(BO) to fight(BP) for you against your enemies to give you victory.(BQ)”

5 The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in(BR) it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. 6 Has anyone planted(BS) a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it?(BT) Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. 7 Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.(BU)” 8 Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”(BV) 9 When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

10 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.(BW) 11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject(BX) to forced labor(BY) and shall work for you. 12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. 13 When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.(BZ) 14 As for the women, the children, the livestock(CA) and everything else in the city,(CB) you may take these as plunder(CC) for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. 15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance(CD) from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

16 However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.(CE) 17 Completely destroy[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods,(CF) and you will sin(CG) against the Lord your God.

19 When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?[b] 20 However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees(CH) and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 20:17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
  2. Deuteronomy 20:19 Or down to use in the siege, for the fruit trees are for the benefit of people.
Listen to Deuteronomy 18-20
Close NKJV

Deuteronomy 18-20
New King James Version

The Portion of the Priests and Levites

18 “The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have [a]no part nor (A)inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His portion. 2 Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He said to them.

3 “And this shall be the priest’s (B)due[b] from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. 4 (C)The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5 For (D)the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes (E)to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.

6 “So if a Levite comes from any of your [c]gates, from where he (F)dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind (G)to the place which the Lord chooses, 7 then he may serve in the name of the Lord his God (H)as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the Lord. 8 They shall have equal (I)portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.

Avoid Wicked Customs

9 “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, (J)you shall not learn to follow the [d]abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter (K)pass[e] through the fire, (L)or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 (M)or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or (N)one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are [f]an abomination to the Lord, and (O)because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be [g]blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not [h]appointed such for you.

A New Prophet Like Moses

15 (P)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb (Q)in the day of the assembly, saying, (R)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

17 “And the Lord said to me: (S)‘What they have spoken is good. 18 (T)I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and (U)will put My words in His mouth, (V)and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 (W)And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. 20 But (X)the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or (Y)who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 (Z)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, (AA)if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it (AB)presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Three Cities of Refuge(AC)

19 “When the Lord your God (AD)has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, 2 (AE)you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3 You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.

4 “And (AF)this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor [i]unintentionally, not having hated him in time past— 5 as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; 6 (AG)lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. 7 Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’

8 “Now if the Lord your God (AH)enlarges your territory, as He swore to (AI)your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, 9 and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, (AJ)then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, 10 (AK)lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

11 “But (AL)if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 (AM)Your eye shall not pity him, (AN)but you shall [j]put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Property Boundaries

14 (AO)“You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

The Law Concerning Witnesses

15 (AP)“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. 16 If a false witness (AQ)rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, (AR)before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. 18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 (AS)then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so (AT)you shall put away the evil from among you. 20 (AU)And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21 (AV)Your eye shall not pity: (AW)life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Principles Governing Warfare

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see (AX)horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be (AY)afraid of them; for the Lord your God is (AZ)with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 2 So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. 3 And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; 4 for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, (BA)to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

5 “Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not (BB)dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 6 Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. 7 (BC)And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’

8 “The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, (BD)‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, [k]lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ 9 And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

10 “When you go near a city to fight against it, (BE)then proclaim an offer of peace to it. 11 And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. 12 Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, (BF)you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. 14 But the women, the little ones, (BG)the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and (BH)you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the Lord your God gives you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

16 “But (BI)of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, 17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 lest (BJ)they teach you to do according to all their [l]abominations which they have done for their gods, and you (BK)sin against the Lord your God.

19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food. 20 Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 18:1 no portion
  2. Deuteronomy 18:3 right
  3. Deuteronomy 18:6 towns
  4. Deuteronomy 18:9 detestable acts
  5. Deuteronomy 18:10 Be burned as an offering to an idol
  6. Deuteronomy 18:12 detestable
  7. Deuteronomy 18:13 Lit. perfect
  8. Deuteronomy 18:14 allowed you to do so
  9. Deuteronomy 19:4 ignorantly, lit. without knowledge
  10. Deuteronomy 19:13 purge the blood of the innocent
  11. Deuteronomy 20:8 So with MT, Tg.; Sam., LXX, Syr., Vg. lest he make his brother’s heart faint
  12. Deuteronomy 20:18 detestable things
Listen to Deuteronomy 18-20
Close NASB

Deuteronomy 18-20
New American Standard Bible

Portion for the Levites

18 “(A)The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall not have a portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His [a]property. 2 (B)They shall not have an inheritance among their countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He [b]promised them.

3 “(C)Now this shall be the priests’ portion from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep: they shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. 4 You shall give him the (D)first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep. 5 (E)For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to (F)stand to serve in the name of the Lord always.

6 “Now if a Levite comes from any of your [c]towns throughout Israel where he (G)resides, and he comes [d]whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses, 7 then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. 8 (H)They shall eat [e]equal portions, except for what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.

Spiritism Forbidden

9 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to [f](I)imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone (J)who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, a (K)soothsayer, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, (L)or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who consults the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and (M)because of these detestable things the Lord your God is going to drive them out before you. 13 (N)You are to be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations, which you are going to dispossess, listen to (O)soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

15 “(P)The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. 16 This is (Q)in accordance with everything that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’ 17 And (R)the Lord said to me, ‘They have [g]spoken well. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and (S)I will put My words in his mouth, and (T)he shall speak to them everything that I command him. 19 (U)And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will [h]require it of him. 20 But the prophet who speaks a word (V)presumptuously in My name, a word which I have not commanded him to speak, or (W)which he speaks in the name of other gods, [i]that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How will we recognize the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 (X)When the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it (Y)presumptuously; you are not to be afraid of him.

Cities of Refuge

19 “(Z)When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, 2 (AA)you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to [j]possess. 3 You shall prepare the [k]roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as an inheritance, [l]so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.

4 “(AB)Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he [m]kills his friend [n]unintentionally, [o]not hating him previously— 5 as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand [p]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the [q]handle and [r]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live. 6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue [s]him [t]in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and [u]take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. 7 Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’

8 “And if the Lord your God (AC)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He [v]promised to give your fathers— 9 if you [w]carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, (AD)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—(AE)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. 10 So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and (AF)guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.

11 “But (AG)if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes [x]him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. 13 [y](AH)You shall not pity him, but (AI)you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.

Laws of Landmark and Testimony

14 “(AJ)You shall not displace your neighbor’s boundary marker, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to [z]possess.

15 “(AK)A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin [aa]that he commits; on the [ab]testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 16 (AL)If a malicious witness rises up against a person to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both people who have the dispute shall stand (AM)before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18 And the judges (AN)shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has testified against his brother falsely, 19 then (AO)you shall do to him just as he had planned to do to his brother. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you. 20 And (AP)the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21 So [ac](AQ)you shall not show pity: (AR)life for life, (AS)eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Laws of Warfare

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies and see (AT)horses, chariots, and people more numerous than you, (AU)do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. 2 When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people. 3 He shall say to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. (AV)Do not be afraid, or panic, or be terrified by them, 4 for the Lord your God (AW)is the One who is going with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ 5 The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house but has not (AX)dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. 6 And who is the man that has planted a vineyard but has not [ad]put it to use? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man [ae]would put it to use. 7 (AY)And who is the man that is [af]betrothed to a woman and has not [ag]married her? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would [ah]marry her.’ 8 Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘(AZ)Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that [ai]he does not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart!’ 9 And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

10 “When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall [aj]offer it terms of peace. 11 And if it [ak]agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your (BA)forced labor and serve you. 12 However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 When the Lord your God gives it into your hand, (BB)you shall strike all the [al]men in it with the edge of the sword. 14 However, the women, the children, (BC)the animals, and everything that is in the city, all of its spoils, you shall take as plunder for yourself; and you shall [am]use the spoils of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you. 15 This is what you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations [an]nearby. 16 (BD)Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave anything that breathes alive. 17 Instead, you shall [ao]utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 so that they will not teach you to do [ap](BE)all the same detestable practices of theirs which they have done for their gods, [aq]by which you would (BF)sin against the Lord your God.

19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, so you shall not cut them down. For [ar]is the tree of the field a human, that it should [as]be besieged by you? 20 Only the trees that you know [at]are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, so that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war against you until it falls.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 18:1 Or inheritance
  2. Deuteronomy 18:2 Lit spoke to
  3. Deuteronomy 18:6 Lit gates
  4. Deuteronomy 18:6 Lit with all the desire of his soul
  5. Deuteronomy 18:8 Lit portion like portion
  6. Deuteronomy 18:9 Lit do as
  7. Deuteronomy 18:17 Lit done well what they have spoken
  8. Deuteronomy 18:19 I.e., hold him responsible
  9. Deuteronomy 18:20 Lit then that
  10. Deuteronomy 19:2 Lit possess it
  11. Deuteronomy 19:3 Lit road
  12. Deuteronomy 19:3 Lit and it shall be for everyone who committed manslaughter to flee there
  13. Deuteronomy 19:4 Lit strikes
  14. Deuteronomy 19:4 Lit without knowledge
  15. Deuteronomy 19:4 Lit and he was not hating him previously
  16. Deuteronomy 19:5 Lit is put to the
  17. Deuteronomy 19:5 Lit wood
  18. Deuteronomy 19:5 Lit finds
  19. Deuteronomy 19:6 Lit the one who committed manslaughter
  20. Deuteronomy 19:6 Lit while his heart is hot
  21. Deuteronomy 19:6 Lit strike him in the soul
  22. Deuteronomy 19:8 Lit spoke
  23. Deuteronomy 19:9 Lit keep all...to do it
  24. Deuteronomy 19:11 Lit him in the soul
  25. Deuteronomy 19:13 Lit Your eye
  26. Deuteronomy 19:14 Lit possess it
  27. Deuteronomy 19:15 Lit in any sin, that he sins
  28. Deuteronomy 19:15 Lit mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three
  29. Deuteronomy 19:21 Lit your eye
  30. Deuteronomy 20:6 Lit treat(ed) it as common
  31. Deuteronomy 20:6 Lit treat(ed) it as common
  32. Deuteronomy 20:7 A betrothed couple was considered legally married, but did not yet live together
  33. Deuteronomy 20:7 Lit taken
  34. Deuteronomy 20:7 Lit take
  35. Deuteronomy 20:8 As in LXX and other ancient versions; MT his brothers’ hearts do not melt like
  36. Deuteronomy 20:10 Lit call to it for peace
  37. Deuteronomy 20:11 Lit answers peace to you
  38. Deuteronomy 20:13 Lit males
  39. Deuteronomy 20:14 Lit eat
  40. Deuteronomy 20:15 Lit here
  41. Deuteronomy 20:17 Or put them under the ban
  42. Deuteronomy 20:18 Lit according to all the detestable
  43. Deuteronomy 20:18 Lit and you would
  44. Deuteronomy 20:19 Read as interrogative with ancient versions; MT the tree of the field is man
  45. Deuteronomy 20:19 Lit come before you in the siege
  46. Deuteronomy 20:20 Lit that it is not a tree of food
Close NLT

Deuteronomy 18-20
New Living Translation

Gifts for the Priests and Levites

18 “Remember that the Levitical priests—that is, the whole of the tribe of Levi—will receive no allotment of land among the other tribes in Israel. Instead, the priests and Levites will eat from the special gifts given to the Lord, for that is their share. 2 They will have no land of their own among the Israelites. The Lord himself is their special possession, just as he promised them.

3 “These are the parts the priests may claim as their share from the cattle, sheep, and goats that the people bring as offerings: the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. 4 You must also give to the priests the first share of the grain, the new wine, the olive oil, and the wool at shearing time. 5 For the Lord your God chose the tribe of Levi out of all your tribes to minister in the Lord’s name forever.

6 “Suppose a Levite chooses to move from his town in Israel, wherever he is living, to the place the Lord chooses for worship. 7 He may minister there in the name of the Lord his God, just like all his fellow Levites who are serving the Lord there. 8 He may eat his share of the sacrifices and offerings, even if he also receives support from his family.

A Call to Holy Living

9 “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. 10 For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering.[a] And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, 11 or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you. 13 But you must be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the Lord your God forbids you to do such things.”

True and False Prophets

15 Moses continued, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you yourselves requested of the Lord your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai.[b] You said, ‘Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this blazing fire, for we will die.’

17 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘What they have said is right. 18 I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him. 19 I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet proclaims on my behalf. 20 But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in my name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.’

21 “But you may wonder, ‘How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?’ 22 If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.

Cities of Refuge

19 “When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he is giving you, you will take over their land and settle in their towns and homes. 2 Then you must set apart three cities of refuge in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 3 Survey the territory,[c] and divide the land the Lord your God is giving you into three districts, with one of these cities in each district. Then anyone who has killed someone can flee to one of the cities of refuge for safety.

4 “If someone kills another person unintentionally, without previous hostility, the slayer may flee to any of these cities to live in safety. 5 For example, suppose someone goes into the forest with a neighbor to cut wood. And suppose one of them swings an ax to chop down a tree, and the ax head flies off the handle, killing the other person. In such cases, the slayer may flee to one of the cities of refuge to live in safety.

6 “If the distance to the nearest city of refuge is too far, an enraged avenger might be able to chase down and kill the person who caused the death. Then the slayer would die unfairly, since he had never shown hostility toward the person who died. 7 That is why I am commanding you to set aside three cities of refuge.

8 “And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors, and gives you all the land he promised them, 9 you must designate three additional cities of refuge. (He will give you this land if you are careful to obey all the commands I have given you—if you always love the Lord your God and walk in his ways.) 10 That way you will prevent the death of innocent people in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession. You will not be held responsible for the death of innocent people.

11 “But suppose someone is hostile toward a neighbor and deliberately ambushes and murders him and then flees to one of the cities of refuge. 12 In that case, the elders of the murderer’s hometown must send agents to the city of refuge to bring him back and hand him over to the dead person’s avenger to be put to death. 13 Do not feel sorry for that murderer! Purge from Israel the guilt of murdering innocent people; then all will go well with you.

Concern for Justice

14 “When you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession, you must never steal anyone’s land by moving the boundary markers your ancestors set up to mark their property.

15 “You must not convict anyone of a crime on the testimony of only one witness. The facts of the case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

16 “If a malicious witness comes forward and accuses someone of a crime, 17 then both the accuser and accused must appear before the Lord by coming to the priests and judges in office at that time. 18 The judges must investigate the case thoroughly. If the accuser has brought false charges against his fellow Israelite, 19 you must impose on the accuser the sentence he intended for the other person. In this way, you will purge such evil from among you. 20 Then the rest of the people will hear about it and be afraid to do such an evil thing. 21 You must show no pity for the guilty! Your rule should be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Regulations concerning War

20 “When you go out to fight your enemies and you face horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid. The Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you! 2 When you prepare for battle, the priest must come forward to speak to the troops. 3 He will say to them, ‘Listen to me, all you men of Israel! Do not be afraid as you go out to fight your enemies today! Do not lose heart or panic or tremble before them. 4 For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!’

5 “Then the officers of the army must address the troops and say, ‘Has anyone here just built a new house but not yet dedicated it? If so, you may go home! You might be killed in the battle, and someone else would dedicate your house. 6 Has anyone here just planted a vineyard but not yet eaten any of its fruit? If so, you may go home! You might die in battle, and someone else would eat the first fruit. 7 Has anyone here just become engaged to a woman but not yet married her? Well, you may go home and get married! You might die in the battle, and someone else would marry her.’

8 “Then the officers will also say, ‘Is anyone here afraid or worried? If you are, you may go home before you frighten anyone else.’ 9 When the officers have finished speaking to their troops, they will appoint the unit commanders.

10 “As you approach a town to attack it, you must first offer its people terms for peace. 11 If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. 12 But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. 13 When the Lord your God hands the town over to you, use your swords to kill every man in the town. 14 But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the plunder from your enemies that the Lord your God has given you.

15 “But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of the nations in the land you will enter. 16 In those towns that the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. 17 You must completely destroy[d] the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the Lord your God.

19 “When you are attacking a town and the war drags on, you must not cut down the trees with your axes. You may eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. Are the trees your enemies, that you should attack them? 20 You may only cut down trees that you know are not valuable for food. Use them to make the equipment you need to attack the enemy town until it falls.

Footnotes

  1. 18:10 Or never make your son or daughter pass through the fire.
  2. 18:16 Hebrew Horeb, another name for Sinai.
  3. 19:3 Or Keep the roads in good repair.
  4. 20:17 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
Listen to Deuteronomy 18-20
Close MSG

Deuteronomy 18-20
The Message

18 1-2 The Levitical priests—that’s the entire tribe of Levi—don’t get any land-inheritance with the rest of Israel. They get the Fire-Gift-Offerings of God—they will live on that inheritance. But they don’t get land-inheritance like the rest of their kinsmen. God is their inheritance.

3-5 This is what the priests get from the people from any offering of an ox or a sheep: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. You must also give them the firstfruits of your grain, wine, and oil and the first fleece of your sheep, because God, your God, has chosen only them and their children out of all your tribes to be present and serve always in the name of God, your God.

6-8 If a Levite moves from any town in Israel—and he is quite free to move wherever he desires—and comes to the place God designates for worship, he may serve there in the name of God along with all his brother Levites who are present and serving in the Presence of God. And he will get an equal share to eat, even though he has money from the sale of his parents’ possessions.

* * *

9-12 When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you, don’t take on the abominable ways of life of the nations there. Don’t you dare sacrifice your son or daughter in the fire. Don’t practice divination, sorcery, fortunetelling, witchery, casting spells, holding séances, or channeling with the dead. People who do these things are an abomination to God. It’s because of just such abominable practices that God, your God, is driving these nations out before you.

13-14 Be completely loyal to God, your God. These nations that you’re about to run out of the country consort with sorcerers and witches. But not you. God, your God, forbids it.

15-16 God, your God, is going to raise up a prophet for you. God will raise him up from among your kinsmen, a prophet like me. Listen obediently to him. This is what you asked God, your God, for at Horeb on the day you were all gathered at the mountain and said, “We can’t hear any more from God, our God; we can’t stand seeing any more fire. We’ll die!”

17-19 And God said to me, “They’re right; they’ve spoken the truth. I’ll raise up for them a prophet like you from their kinsmen. I’ll tell him what to say and he will pass on to them everything I command him. And anyone who won’t listen to my words spoken by him, I will personally hold responsible.

20 “But any prophet who fakes it, who claims to speak in my name something I haven’t commanded him to say, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die.”

21-22 You may be wondering among yourselves, “How can we tell the difference, whether it was God who spoke or not?” Here’s how: If what the prophet spoke in God’s name doesn’t happen, then obviously God wasn’t behind it; the prophet made it up. Forget about him.

* * *

19 1-3 When God, your God, throws the nations out of the country that God, your God, is giving you and you settle down in their cities and houses, you are to set aside three easily accessible cities in the land that God, your God, is giving you as your very own. Divide your land into thirds, this land that God, your God, is giving you to possess, and build roads to the towns so that anyone who accidentally kills another can flee there.

4-7 This is the guideline for the murderer who flees there to take refuge: He has to have killed his neighbor without premeditation and with no history of bad blood between them. For instance, a man goes with his neighbor into the woods to cut a tree; he swings the ax, the head slips off the handle and hits his neighbor, killing him. He may then flee to one of these cities and save his life. If the city is too far away, the avenger of blood racing in hot-blooded pursuit might catch him since it’s such a long distance, and kill him even though he didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t his fault. There was no history of hatred between them. Therefore I command you: Set aside the three cities for yourselves.

8-10 When God, your God, enlarges your land, extending its borders as he solemnly promised your ancestors, by giving you the whole land he promised them because you are diligently living the way I’m commanding you today, namely, to love God, your God, and do what he tells you all your life; and when that happens, then add three more to these three cities so that there is no chance of innocent blood being spilled in your land. God, your God, is giving you this land as an inheritance—you don’t want to pollute it with innocent blood and bring guilt upon yourselves.

11-13 On the other hand, if a man with a history of hatred toward his neighbor waits in ambush, then jumps him, mauls and kills him, and then runs to one of these cities, that’s a different story. The elders of his own city are to send for him and have him brought back. They are to hand him over to the avenger of blood for execution. Don’t feel sorry for him. Clean out the pollution of wrongful murder from Israel so that you’ll be able to live well and breathe clean air.

* * *

14 Don’t move your neighbor’s boundary markers, the longstanding landmarks set up by your pioneer ancestors defining their property.

* * *

15 You cannot convict anyone of a crime or sin on the word of one witness. You need two or three witnesses to make a case.

16-21 If a hostile witness stands to accuse someone of a wrong, then both parties involved in the quarrel must stand in the Presence of God before the priests and judges who are in office at that time. The judges must conduct a careful investigation; if the witness turns out to be a false witness and has lied against his fellow Israelite, give him the same medicine he intended for the other party. Clean the polluting evil from your company. People will hear of what you’ve done and be impressed; that will put a stop to this kind of evil among you. Don’t feel sorry for the person: It’s life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

* * *

20 1-4 When you go to war against your enemy and see horses and chariots and soldiers far outnumbering you, do not recoil in fear of them; God, your God, who brought you up out of Egypt is with you. When the battle is about to begin, let the priest come forward and speak to the troops. He’ll say, “Attention, Israel. In a few minutes you’re going to do battle with your enemies. Don’t waver in resolve. Don’t fear. Don’t hesitate. Don’t panic. God, your God, is right there with you, fighting with you against your enemies, fighting to win.”

5-7 Then let the officers step up and speak to the troops: “Is there a man here who has built a new house but hasn’t yet dedicated it? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it. And is there a man here who has planted a vineyard but hasn’t yet enjoyed the grapes? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man enjoy the grapes. Is there a man here engaged to marry who hasn’t yet taken his wife? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man take her.”

8 The officers will then continue, “And is there a man here who is wavering in resolve and afraid? Let him go home right now so that he doesn’t infect his fellows with his timidity and cowardly spirit.”

9 When the officers have finished speaking to the troops, let them appoint commanders of the troops who shall muster them by units.

10-15 When you come up against a city to attack it, call out, “Peace?” If they answer, “Yes, peace!” and open the city to you, then everyone found there will be conscripted as forced laborers and work for you. But if they don’t settle for peace and insist on war, then go ahead and attack. God, your God, will give them to you. Kill all the men with your swords. But don’t kill the women and children and animals. Everything inside the town you can take as plunder for you to use and eat—God, your God, gives it to you. This is the way you deal with the distant towns, the towns that don’t belong to the nations at hand.

16-18 But with the towns of the people that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, it’s different: don’t leave anyone alive. Consign them to holy destruction: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, obeying the command of God, your God. This is so there won’t be any of them left to teach you to practice the abominations that they engage in with their gods and you end up sinning against God, your God.

19-20 When you mount an attack on a town and the siege goes on a long time, don’t start cutting down the trees, swinging your axes against them. Those trees are your future food; don’t cut them down. Are trees soldiers who come against you with weapons? The exception can be those trees which don’t produce food; you can chop them down and use the timbers to build siege engines against the town that is resisting you until it falls.

* * *

Next
Deuteronomy 17
Deuteronomy 21
Next
dropdown
New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.

July Summer Surge

More on the NIV

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Learn the Bible in 30 days
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

New American Standard Bible is made available by The Lockman Foundation
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson