Deuteronomy 18

Modern

Literal

Provision for Priests and Levites

¹The Levitical priests—indeed the whole tribe of Levi—shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the food offerings to the LORD; that is their inheritance.

¹There shall not be to the priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—a portion or inheritance with Israel; and the fire offerings of YHWH, His inheritance, they shall eat.

²Although they have no inheritance among their brothers, the LORD is their inheritance, as He promised them.

²And unto them shall be no inheritance among their brothers; YHWH is their inheritance, as He has spoken to them.

³This shall be the priests’ share from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether a bull or a sheep: the priests are to be given the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach.

³And this shall be the right of the priest from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is a bull or a sheep; and he shall give to the priest the shoulder, and the cheeks, and the stomach.

⁴You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool sheared from your flock.

⁴The firstfruits of your grain, and your new wine, and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give to him.

⁵For the LORD your God has chosen Levi and his sons out of all your tribes to stand and minister in His name for all time.

⁵For YHWH your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of YHWH—he and his sons, for all the days.

⁶Now if a Levite moves from any town of residence throughout Israel and comes in all earnestness to the place the LORD will choose,

⁶And if a Levite comes from one of your gates among all Israel, from where he dwells, and he comes with all the desire of his soul to the place that YHWH chooses,

⁷then he shall serve in the name of the LORD his God like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the LORD.

⁷he may serve in the name of YHWH his God, as all his brothers the Levites who stand there before the face of YHWH.

⁸They shall eat equal portions, even though he has received money from the sale of his father’s estate.

⁸Equal portions they shall have to eat, besides the sale by him of that of the fathers.

Sorcery Forbidden

⁹When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.

⁹When you come into the land that YHWH your God is giving to you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of these nations.

¹⁰Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire,^a practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery,

¹⁰There shall not be found among you one who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, a user of divinations, a soothsayer, or a diviner, or a sorcerer,

¹¹casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead.

¹¹or one who conjures spells or consults a medium, or a spiritist, or a seeker of the dead.

¹²For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD. And because of these detestable things, the LORD your God is driving out the nations before you.

¹²For an abomination to YHWH is everyone doing these things, and because of these abominations YHWH your God is driving them out from before you.

¹³You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

¹³You shall be blameless before YHWH your God.

¹⁴Though these nations, which you will dispossess, listen to conjurers and diviners, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.

¹⁴For these nations that you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners, and as for you, YHWH your God has not given for you to do so.

A Prophet Like Moses

¹⁵The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him.^a

¹⁵YHWH your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from your brothers, like me; you must listen to him

¹⁶This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb^a on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”

¹⁶according to all that you desired of YHWH your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again the voice of YHWH my God, and let me not see this great fire anymore, so that I will not die.”

¹⁷Then the LORD said to me, “They have spoken well.

¹⁷And YHWH said to me, “What they have spoken is good.

¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

¹⁹And I will hold accountable anyone who does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name.^a

¹⁹And it shall come to pass that whoever will not listen to My words, which he speaks in My name, I will require it of him.

²⁰But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.”

²⁰But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—indeed that prophet must be put to death.

²¹You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?”

²¹And if you say in your heart, “How shall we know the word that YHWH has not spoken?”

²²When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

²²When a prophet speaks in the name of YHWH and the thing does not happen, and it does not come to pass, it is the thing that YHWH has not spoken. Proudly the prophet has spoken it; you shall not be afraid of him.