Deuteronomy 18

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. ⁴You 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, ⁷then 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. ¹⁰There 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, ¹¹or one who casts a spell, ^(L)or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who consults the dead. ¹²For 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. ¹⁴For 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. ¹⁶This 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!’ ¹⁷And ^(R)the Lord said to me, ‘They have ^[g]spoken well. ¹⁸I 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. ²⁰But 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.’ ²¹And 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.

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 18:1 Or inheritance
Deuteronomy 18:2 Lit spoke to
Deuteronomy 18:6 Lit gates
Deuteronomy 18:6 Lit with all the desire of his soul
Deuteronomy 18:8 Lit portion like portion
Deuteronomy 18:9 Lit do as
Deuteronomy 18:17 Lit done well what they have spoken
Deuteronomy 18:19 I.e., hold him responsible
Deuteronomy 18:20 Lit then that

Deuteronomy 18

International Standard Version

Provision for the Descendants of Levi

18 “The Levitical priests—the whole tribe of Levi—will not have a portion or an inheritance within Israel. Instead, they will eat the burnt offerings of the Lord, because that is their inheritance. ²But they will not have an inheritance among their relatives, because the Lord alone is their inheritance—as he promised them.”

Provision for the Priests

³“A portion of what the people offer in sacrifice, whether cattle or sheep, is to be due the priests. They must set aside the shoulder, jowls, and stomach for the priest. ⁴Give them the first gatherings of your grain, wine, and oil, as well as wool from the shearing of your flock. ⁵For the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants^[a] from among your tribes to stand and serve in the name of the Lord all their lives.”^[b]

Provision for the Itinerant Levite

⁶“Any descendant of Levi who wishes to do so may come from any city or part of Israel where he resides to the place that the Lord will choose. ⁷There he may serve in the name of the Lord his God. Like his fellow descendants of Levi who stand there in the Lord’s presence, ⁸he may eat the same share as they do regardless of what he receives from his ancestral estate.”

Detestable Practices

⁹“When you enter the land that the Lord your God is about to give you, don’t learn the detestable practices of those nations there. ¹⁰There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices^[c] his son or daughter in fire, practices divination, interprets omens, practices sorcery, ¹¹casts spells, or who is a medium, an occultist, or a necromancer. ¹²Whoever practices these things is detestable to the Lord, and the Lord your God will expel them before you because of these things. ¹³You must be completely faithful to the Lord your God, ¹⁴because those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to those who practice witchcraft and divination. But the Lord does not allow you to act this way.”

Discerning the True Prophet

¹⁵“The Lord your God will raise up a prophet like me for you from among your relatives. You must listen to him, ¹⁶because this is what you asked from the Lord your God at Horeb when you were assembled together: ‘Don’t let us^[d] hear the voice of the Lord our God again, or even see this great fire—otherwise, we^[e] will die.’

¹⁷“Then the Lord told me: ‘What they have suggested is good. ¹⁸I will raise up a prophet like you from among their relatives, and I will place my words in his mouth so that he may expound everything that I have commanded to them. ¹⁹But if someone will not listen to those words that the prophet^[f] speaks in my name, I will hold him accountable. ²⁰Even then, if the prophet speaks presumptuously in my name, which I didn’t authorize him to speak, or if he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die.’ ²¹Now you may ask yourselves, ‘How will we be able to discern that the Lord has not spoken?’ ²²Whenever a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and the oracle does not come about or the word is not fulfilled, then the Lord has not spoken it. The prophet will have spoken presumptuously, so you need not fear him.”