1Husk, at præsterne og de øvrige levitter ikke får nogen jord tildelt som resten af Israels folk. Præsterne og levitterne skal leve af de offergaver, som folket bringer til helligdommen.2De må ikke eje jord som deres landsmænd. De skal sætte deres lid til Herren, og han har lovet at sørge for dem.3Når I ofrer hornkvæg eller småkvæg til Herren, skal I overlade boven, kæberne og maven til præsterne.4Derudover har de krav på førstegrøden af jeres korn-, vin- og olivenhøst, samt den første uld fra fåreklipningen.5Herren jeres Gud har blandt Israels folk udtaget Levis stamme til altid at gøre tjeneste ved helligdommen.6-7Enhver levit har, uanset hvor han bor i landet, ret til når som helst at komme til helligdommen og gøre tjeneste der på lige fod med alle andre levitter, som regelmæssigt arbejder der.8Han har krav på sin retmæssige del af ofrene, også selv om han har indtægter ved salg af nogle af sine ejendele.
Advarsel imod at følge hedenske skikke
9Når I kommer ind i det land, som Herren vil give jer, så pas på, at I ikke lader jer friste til at deltage i lokalbefolkningens afgudsdyrkelse.10Ingen iblandt jer må brænde sine børn som offer til afguderne, udøve spådomskunst eller trolddomskunst,11bruge sort magi eller have noget som helst med spiritisme at gøre.12-14Herren ser med væmmelse på enhver, der beskæftiger sig med den slags ting, ja, det var netop derfor Herren, jeres Gud, besluttede at jage de indfødte ud af landet og give det til jer. I må ikke følge deres eksempel, men I skal trofast adlyde Herren i alle ting.
En profet som Moses
15Herren, jeres Gud, vil engang sende jer en profet som mig. Han skal udgå fra jeres eget folk, og I skal lytte til ham og adlyde ham.16Jeres forældre bad selv om at få en profet som mellemmand, dengang de stod ved foden af Horebs bjerg og tiggede om at blive fri for selv at skulle høre Guds frygtindgydende stemme og se den fortærende ild, fordi de var bange for at dø.17‚Godt,’ sagde Herren til mig, ‚jeg vil give dem, hvad de beder om.18Jeg vil sende dem en profet som dig. Han skal udgå fra deres eget folk, og jeg vil fortælle ham, hvad han skal sige. Han skal være mit talerør overfor folket,19og jeg vil personligt tage mig af enhver, der nægter at anerkende de ord, profeten taler på mine vegne.20Men hvis en profet påberåber sig autoritet fra mig, på trods af at jeg ikke har talt til ham, skal han dø. Det samme gælder enhver profet, der taler på andre guders vegne.’21Hvordan kan man så afgøre, om en profeti kommer fra Herren eller ej?22Hvis profetien ikke går i opfyldelse, kommer den ikke fra Herren. Budskabet er da noget, profeten selv har fundet på, og I skal ikke være bange for den dom, han forkynder.
1“The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the Lord’s food offerings[1] as their[2] inheritance. (4.Mos 18,8; 4.Mos 18,20; Josva 13,14; 1.Sam 2,28; 1.Kor 9,13)2They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.3And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. (3.Mos 7,30)4The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. (4.Mos 18,12; 2.Krøn 31,5)5For 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 all time. (5.Mos 17,12)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[3]—to the place that the Lord will choose, (4.Mos 35,2; 5.Mos 12,5; Dom 17,7; Dom 19,1)7and ministers in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord, (1.Krøn 23,6; 2.Krøn 31,2)8then he may have equal portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.[4] (2.Krøn 31,4; Neh 12,44; Neh 12,47; Neh 13,10)
Abominable Practices
9“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. (3.Mos 18,26; 5.Mos 12,29)10There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering,[5] anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer (2.Mos 22,18; 3.Mos 18,21; 3.Mos 19,26; 2.Kong 17,17)11or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, (3.Mos 19,31; 1.Sam 28,7)12for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. (5.Mos 9,4; 5.Mos 22,5; 5.Mos 25,16)13You shall be blameless before the Lord your God,14for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.
A New Prophet like Moses
15“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— (Joh 1,21; Joh 1,25; Joh 1,45; Ap G 3,22; Ap G 7,37)16just 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.’ (2.Mos 20,19; 5.Mos 9,10)17And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. (5.Mos 5,28)18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. (5.Mos 18,15; Jer 1,9; Jer 5,14; Joh 4,25; Joh 8,28; Joh 12,49; Joh 17,8)19And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. (Jer 29,19; Jer 35,13; Ap G 3,23)20But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or[6] who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ (5.Mos 13,5)21And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’—22when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. (5.Mos 13,1; 5.Mos 18,20; Jer 28,9)