Deuteronomy 18
18
The Portion of the Priests and Levites
1“The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no part nor #Deut. 10:9; 1 Cor. 9:13inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His portion. 2Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He said to them.
3“And this shall be the priest’s #Lev. 7:32–34; Num. 18:11, 12; 1 Sam. 2:13–16, 29due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. 4#Ex. 22:29The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5For #Ex. 28:1the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes #Deut. 10:8to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.
6“So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where he #Num. 35:2dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind #Deut. 12:5; 14:23to the place which the Lord chooses, 7then he may serve in the name of the Lord his God #Num. 1:50; 2 Chr. 31:2as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the Lord. 8They shall have equal #Lev. 27:30–33; Num. 18:21–24; 2 Chr. 31:4; Neh. 12:44portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.
Avoid Wicked Customs
9“When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, #Lev. 18:26, 27, 30; Deut. 12:29, 30; 20:16–18you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter #Lev. 18:21; Deut. 12:31pass through the fire, #Ex. 22:18; Lev. 19:26, 31; 20:6, 27; Is. 8:19or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11#Lev. 20:27or #1 Sam. 28:7one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and #Lev. 18:24; Deut. 9:4because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. 13You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.
A New Prophet Like Moses
15#Matt. 21:11; Luke 1:76; 2:25–34; 7:16; 24:19; Acts 3:22“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb #Deut. 5:23–27in the day of the assembly, saying, #Ex. 20:18, 19; Heb. 12:19‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’
17“And the Lord said to me: #Deut. 5:28‘What they have spoken is good. 18#Deut. 34:10; John 1:45; Acts 3:22I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and #Num. 23:5; Is. 49:2; 51:16; John 17:8will put My words in His mouth, #(John 4:25; 8:28)and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19#Acts 3:23; (Heb. 12:25)And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. 20But #Deut. 13:5; Jer. 14:14, 15; Zech. 13:2–5the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or #Deut. 13:1–3; Jer. 2:8who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— 22#Jer. 28:9when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, #Deut. 13:2if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it #Deut. 18:20presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
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Deuteronomy 18: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Deuteronomy 18
18
1-2The Levitical priests—that’s the entire tribe of Levi—don’t get any land-inheritance with the rest of Israel. They get the Fire-Gift-Offerings of God—they will live on that inheritance. But they don’t get land-inheritance like the rest of their kinsmen. God is their inheritance.
3-5This is what the priests get from the people from any offering of an ox or a sheep: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach. You must also give them the firstfruits of your grain, wine, and oil and the first fleece of your sheep, because God, your God, has chosen only them and their children out of all your tribes to be present and serve always in the name of God, your God.
6-8If a Levite moves from any town in Israel—and he is quite free to move wherever he desires—and comes to the place God designates for worship, he may serve there in the name of God along with all his brother Levites who are present and serving in the Presence of God. And he will get an equal share to eat, even though he has money from the sale of his parents’ possessions.
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9-12When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you, don’t take on the abominable ways of life of the nations there. Don’t you dare sacrifice your son or daughter in the fire. Don’t practice divination, sorcery, fortunetelling, witchery, casting spells, holding séances, or channeling with the dead. People who do these things are an abomination to God. It’s because of just such abominable practices that God, your God, is driving these nations out before you.
13-14Be completely loyal to God, your God. These nations that you’re about to run out of the country consort with sorcerers and witches. But not you. God, your God, forbids it.
15-16 God, your God, is going to raise up a prophet for you. God will raise him up from among your kinsmen, a prophet like me. Listen obediently to him. This is what you asked God, your God, for at Horeb on the day you were all gathered at the mountain and said, “We can’t hear any more from God, our God; we can’t stand seeing any more fire. We’ll die!”
17-19And God said to me, “They’re right; they’ve spoken the truth. I’ll raise up for them a prophet like you from their kinsmen. I’ll tell him what to say and he will pass on to them everything I command him. And anyone who won’t listen to my words spoken by him, I will personally hold responsible.
20“But any prophet who fakes it, who claims to speak in my name something I haven’t commanded him to say, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die.”
21-22You may be wondering among yourselves, “How can we tell the difference, whether it was God who spoke or not?” Here’s how: If what the prophet spoke in God’s name doesn’t happen, then obviously God wasn’t behind it; the prophet made it up. Forget about him.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.