Deuteronomy 18
Good News Translation
The Share of the Priests
18 “The priestly tribe of Levi is not to receive any share of land in Israel; instead, they are to live on the offerings and other sacrifices given to the Lord. 2 (A)They are to own no land, as the other tribes do; their share is the privilege of being the Lord's priests, as the Lord has promised.
3 “Whenever cattle or sheep are sacrificed, the priests are to be given the shoulder, the jaw, and the stomach. 4 They are to receive the first share of the grain, wine, olive oil, and wool. 5 The Lord chose from all your tribes the tribe of Levi to serve him as priests forever.
6 “Any Levite who wants to may come from any town in Israel to the one place of worship 7 and may serve there as a priest of the Lord his God, like the other Levites who are serving there. 8 He is to receive the same amount of food as the other priests, and he may keep whatever his family sends him.[a]
Warning against Pagan Practices
9 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, don't follow the disgusting practices of the nations that are there. 10 (B)Don't sacrifice your children in the fires on your altars; and don't let your people practice divination or look for omens or use spells 11 (C)or charms, and don't let them consult the spirits of the dead. 12 The Lord your God hates people who do these disgusting things, and that is why he is driving those nations out of the land as you advance. 13 (D)Be completely faithful to the Lord.”
The Promise to Send a Prophet
14 Then Moses said, “In the land you are about to occupy, people follow the advice of those who practice divination and look for omens, but the Lord your God does not allow you to do this. 15 (E)Instead, he will send you a prophet like me from among your own people, and you are to obey him.[b]
16 “On the day that you were gathered at Mount Sinai, you begged not to hear the Lord speak again or to see his fiery presence any more, because you were afraid you would die. 17 So the Lord said to me, ‘They have made a wise request. 18 I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will tell him what to say, and he[c] will tell the people everything I command. 19 (F)He will speak in my name, and I[d] will punish anyone who refuses to obey him. 20 But if any prophet dares to speak a message in my name when I did not command him to do so, he must die for it, and so must any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods.’
21 “You may wonder how you can tell when a prophet's message does not come from the Lord. 22 If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and what he says does not come true, then it is not the Lord's message. That prophet has spoken on his own authority, and you are not to fear him.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 18:8 Probable text and he may keep … sends him; Hebrew unclear.
- Deuteronomy 18:15 a prophet … him; or prophets … them.
- Deuteronomy 18:18 a prophet … him … he; or prophets … them … they.
- Deuteronomy 18:19 He will speak … and I; or When a prophet speaks in my name, I.
Deuteronomy 18
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.
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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.
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Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson