Deuteronomy 18
Living Bible
18 “Remember that the priests and all the other members of the Levite tribe will not be given property like the other tribes. So the priests and Levites are to be supported by the sacrifices brought to the altar of the Lord and by the other offerings the people bring to him. 2 They don’t need to own property, for the Lord is their property! That is what he promised them! 3 The shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach of every ox or sheep brought for sacrifice must be given to the priests. 4 In addition, the priests shall receive the harvest samples brought in thanksgiving to the Lord—the first of the grain, the new wine, the olive oil, and of the fleece at shearing time. 5 For the Lord your God has chosen the tribe of Levi, of all the tribes, to minister to the Lord from generation to generation.
6-7 “Any Levite, no matter where he lives in the land of Israel, has the right to come to the sanctuary at any time and minister in the name of the Lord, just like his brother Levites who work there regularly. 8 He shall be given his share of the sacrifices and offerings as his right, not just if he is in need.
9 “When you arrive in the Promised Land you must be very careful lest you be corrupted by the horrible customs of the nations now living there. 10 For example, any Israeli who presents his child to be burned to death as a sacrifice to heathen gods must be killed.[a] No Israeli may practice black magic, or call on the evil spirits for aid, or be a fortune-teller, 11 or be a serpent charmer, medium, or wizard, or call forth the spirits of the dead. 12 Anyone doing these things is an object of horror and disgust to the Lord, and it is because the nations do these things that the Lord your God will displace them. 13 You must walk blamelessly before the Lord your God. 14 The nations you replace all do these evil things, but the Lord your God will not permit you to do such things.
15 “Instead, he will raise up for you a prophet like me, an Israeli, a man to whom you must listen and whom you must obey. 16 For this is what you yourselves begged of God at Mount Horeb. There at the foot of the mountain you begged that you might not have to listen to the terrifying voice of God again, or see the awesome fire on the mountain, lest you die.
17 “‘All right,’ the Lord said to me, ‘I will do as they have requested. 18 I will raise up from among them a prophet, an Israeli like you. I will tell him what to say, and he shall be my spokesman to the people. 19 I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to him and heed his messages from me. 20 But any prophet who falsely claims that his message is from me shall die. And any prophet who claims to give a message from other gods must die.’ 21 If you wonder, ‘How shall we know whether the prophecy is from the Lord or not?’ 22 this is the way to know: If the thing he prophesies doesn’t happen, it is not the Lord who has given him the message; he has made it up himself. You have nothing to fear from him.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 18:10 must be killed, implied.
Deuteronomy 18
Revised Standard Version
Privileges of Priests and Levites
18 “The Levitical priests, that is, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings by fire to the Lord, and his rightful dues. 2 They shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. 3 And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. 4 The first fruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5 For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever.
6 “And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, where he lives—and he may come when he desires—to the place which the Lord will choose, 7 then he may minister in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord. 8 They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.[a]
Child-Sacrifice, Divination, and Magic Prohibited
9 “When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you any one who burns his son or his daughter as an offering,[b] any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, 11 or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord; and because of these abominable practices the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, give heed to soothsayers and to diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you so to do.
A New Prophet Like Moses
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren—him you shall heed— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They have rightly said all that they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 18:8 Heb obscure
- Deuteronomy 18:10 Heb makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.