1The priests, who are Levites, won’t receive any part of the land of Israel. That also applies to the whole tribe of Levi. They will eat the food offerings presented to the LORD. That will be their share.2They won’t have any part of the land the LORD gave the other tribes in Israel. The LORD himself is their share, just as he promised them.3Anyone who sacrifices a bull or a sheep owes a share of it to the priests. Their share is the shoulder, the inside parts and the meat from the head.4You must give the priests the first share of the harvest of your corn, olive oil and fresh wine. You must also give them the first wool you clip from your sheep.5The LORD your God has chosen the Levites and their sons after them to serve him in his name always. He hasn’t chosen priests from any of your other tribes.6Sometimes a Levite will move from the town in Israel where he’s living. And he will come to the place the LORD will choose. He’ll do it because he really wants to.7Then he can serve in the name of the LORD his God. He’ll be like all the other Levites who serve the LORD there.8He must have an equal share of the good things they have. That applies even if he has already received money by selling things his family owned.
Practices the Lord hates
9You will enter the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you do, don’t copy the practices of the nations there. The LORD hates those practices.10Here are things you must not do. Don’t sacrifice your children in the fire to other gods. Don’t practise any kind of evil magic at all. Don’t use magic to try to explain the meaning of warnings in the sky or of any other signs. Don’t take part in worshipping evil powers.11Don’t put a spell on anyone. Don’t get messages from those who have died. Don’t talk to the spirits of the dead. Don’t get advice from the dead.12The LORD your God hates it when anyone does these things. The nations in the land he’s giving you do these things he hates. So he will drive out those nations to make room for you.13You must be without blame in the sight of the LORD your God.
The prophet of the Lord
14You will take over the nations that are in the land the LORD is giving you. They listen to those who practise all kinds of evil magic. But you belong to the LORD your God. He says you must not do these things.15The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me. He will be one of your own people. You must listen to him.16At Mount Horeb you asked the LORD your God for a prophet. You asked him on the day you gathered together. You said, ‘We don’t want to hear the voice of the LORD our God. We don’t want to see this great fire anymore. If we do, we’ll die.’17The LORD said to me, ‘What they are saying is good.18I will raise up for them a prophet like you. He will be one of their own people. I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him to say.19The prophet will speak in my name. But someone might not listen to what I say through the prophet. I will hold that person responsible for not listening.20But suppose a prophet dares to speak in my name something I have not commanded. Or he speaks in the name of other gods. Then that prophet must be put to death.’21You will say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message hasn’t been spoken by the LORD?’22Sometimes a prophet will announce something in the name of the LORD. And it won’t take place or come true. Then that’s a message the LORD hasn’t told him to speak. That prophet has dared to speak on his own authority. So don’t be afraid of what he says.
Deuteronomy 18
English Standard Version
Provision for Priests and Levites
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. (Nu 18:8; Nu 18:20; Jos 13:14; 1Sa 2:28; 1Co 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. (Le 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. (Nu 18:12; 2Ch 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. (De 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, (Nu 35:2; De 12:5; Jud 17:7; Jud 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, (1Ch 23:6; 2Ch 31:2)8then he may have equal portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.[4] (2Ch 31:4; Ne 12:44; Ne 12:47; Ne 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. (Le 18:26; De 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 (Ex 22:18; Le 18:21; Le 19:26; 2Ki 17:17)11or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, (Le 19:31; 1Sa 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. (De 9:4; De 22:5; De 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; Ac 3:22; Ac 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.’ (Ex 20:19; De 9:10)17And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. (De 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. (De 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; Ac 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.’ (De 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. (De 13:1; De 18:20; Jer 28:9)