Deuteronomy 18

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) ²They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^(D) as he promised them.^(E)

³This 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) ⁴You 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) ⁵for 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)

⁶If 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) ⁷he 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. ⁸He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.^(O)

Occult Practices

⁹When 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. ¹⁰Let 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) ¹¹or casts spells,^(V) or who is a medium or spiritist^(W) or who consults the dead. ¹²Anyone 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) ¹³You must be blameless^(Y) before the Lord your God.^(Z)

The Prophet

¹⁴The 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. ¹⁵The 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. ¹⁶For 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)

¹⁷The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. ¹⁸I 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) ¹⁹I myself will call to account^(AH) anyone who does not listen^(AI) to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.^(AJ) ²⁰But 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)

²¹You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” ²²If 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.

Isaiah 45

New International Version

45 “This is what the Lord says to his anointed,^(A)
    to Cyrus,^(B) whose right hand I take hold^(C) of
to subdue nations^(D) before him
    and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
    so that gates will not be shut:
²I will go before you^(E)
    and will level^(F) the mountains^[a];
I will break down gates^(G) of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.^(H)
³I will give you hidden treasures,^(I)
    riches stored in secret places,^(J)
so that you may know^(K) that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.^(L)
⁴For the sake of Jacob my servant,^(M)
    of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
    and bestow on you a title of honor,
    though you do not acknowledge^(N) me.
⁵I am the Lord, and there is no other;^(O)
    apart from me there is no God.^(P)
I will strengthen you,^(Q)
    though you have not acknowledged me,
⁶so that from the rising of the sun
    to the place of its setting^(R)
people may know^(S) there is none besides me.^(T)
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷I form the light and create darkness,^(U)
    I bring prosperity and create disaster;^(V)
    I, the Lord, do all these things.

⁸“You heavens above, rain^(W) down my righteousness;^(X)
    let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
    let salvation^(Y) spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
    I, the Lord, have created it.

⁹“Woe to those who quarrel^(Z) with their Maker,^(AA)
    those who are nothing but potsherds^(AB)
    among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,^(AC)
    ‘What are you making?’^(AD)
Does your work say,
    ‘The potter has no hands’?^(AE)
¹⁰Woe to the one who says to a father,
    ‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
    ‘What have you brought to birth?’

¹¹“This is what the Lord says—
    the Holy One^(AF) of Israel, and its Maker:^(AG)
Concerning things to come,
    do you question me about my children,
    or give me orders about the work of my hands?^(AH)
¹²It is I who made the earth^(AI)
    and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;^(AJ)
    I marshaled their starry hosts.^(AK)
¹³I will raise up Cyrus^[b]^(AL) in my righteousness:
    I will make all his ways straight.^(AM)
He will rebuild my city^(AN)
    and set my exiles free,
but not for a price or reward,^(AO)
    says the Lord Almighty.”

¹⁴This is what the Lord says:

“The products^(AP) of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,^[c]
    and those tall Sabeans^(AQ)—
they will come over to you^(AR)
    and will be yours;
they will trudge behind you,^(AS)
    coming over to you in chains.^(AT)
They will bow down before you
    and plead^(AU) with you, saying,
‘Surely God is with you,^(AV) and there is no other;
    there is no other god.^(AW)’”

¹⁵Truly you are a God who has been hiding^(AX) himself,
    the God and Savior^(AY) of Israel.
¹⁶All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced;^(AZ)
    they will go off into disgrace together.
¹⁷But Israel will be saved^(BA) by the Lord
    with an everlasting salvation;^(BB)
you will never be put to shame or disgraced,^(BC)
    to ages everlasting.

¹⁸For this is what the Lord says—
he who created the heavens,
    he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,^(BD)
    he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,^(BE)
    but formed it to be inhabited^(BF)—
he says:
“I am the Lord,
    and there is no other.^(BG)
¹⁹I have not spoken in secret,^(BH)
    from somewhere in a land of darkness;^(BI)
I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,^(BJ)
    ‘Seek^(BK) me in vain.’
I, the Lord, speak the truth;
    I declare what is right.^(BL)

²⁰“Gather together^(BM) and come;
    assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant^(BN) are those who carry^(BO) about idols of wood,
    who pray to gods that cannot save.^(BP)
²¹Declare what is to be, present it—
    let them take counsel together.
Who foretold^(BQ) this long ago,
    who declared it from the distant past?^(BR)
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no God apart from me,^(BS)
a righteous God^(BT) and a Savior;^(BU)
    there is none but me.

²²“Turn^(BV) to me and be saved,^(BW)
    all you ends of the earth;^(BX)
    for I am God, and there is no other.^(BY)
²³By myself I have sworn,^(BZ)
    my mouth has uttered in all integrity^(CA)
    a word that will not be revoked:^(CB)
Before me every knee will bow;^(CC)
    by me every tongue will swear.^(CD)
²⁴They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone
    are deliverance^(CE) and strength.^(CF)’”
All who have raged against him
    will come to him and be put to shame.^(CG)
²⁵But all the descendants^(CH) of Israel
    will find deliverance^(CI) in the Lord
    and will make their boast in him.^(CJ)

Footnotes

Isaiah 45:2 Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint; the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain.
Isaiah 45:13 Hebrew him
Isaiah 45:14 That is, the upper Nile region