Deu 18 | EE | STEP | The priests, who are Levites, and the whole tribe of Levi will have no land. They will take their food from the gifts of animals that you give to the LORD. This part of your gift will be theirs, because the LORD has promised it to them.

Deuteronomy 18

Gifts for priests and Levites

1 The priests, who are Levites, and the whole tribe of Levi will have no land. They will take their food from the gifts of animals that you give to the LORD. This part of your gift will be theirs, because the LORD has promised it to them. 2 They will have no land. This makes them different from other Israelites, who will all have land. But the LORD himself has promised to supply everything for them.

3 When you bring to God a cow or a sheep as a gift, remember the priests! You must give the shoulder, the face and the stomach to them. 4 You must give to them the first food and drink that you bring from your fields. Give to them also the first hair that you cut from your sheep. 5 The LORD your God has chosen the Levites. He wants them to stand as his servants, ready to obey his words always.

6 Any Levite can come to the place that the LORD will choose. He can leave the town where he lives. 7 If he really wants to, he can work as a servant to the LORD his God. He can join other Levites who work in the special place for the LORD. 8 He may have received money when he sold some of his valuable things. But he must still receive the same amount of food and other good things as the other Levites.

God hates these bad practices!

9 When you go into the country that the LORD your God is giving you, be careful! You must not do the very bad practices of the people who live there. 10 You must not burn your child in a fire, as a gift to a false god. You must not become a servant of Satan and obey him. His servants do very bad things. 11 They are cruel and they often frighten people. They also try to speak to dead people. 12 God hates anyone who does these things. It is because of these very bad practices that the LORD will kill the people in the other nations. 13 You must live in a right way, and always obey the LORD your God.

The prophet Moses speaks about when Jesus Christ will come

14 The people who live in your country listen to the servants of Satan. But the LORD your God has commanded you not to do this. 15 He will send you a prophet from among your own people, like me. You must listen to him. 16 Do this because you spoke to the LORD your God. You spoke to him when you came together at Mount Horeb. You said, ‘Please do not let us hear your voice again. Do not let us see this great fire again. If we do, we will die!’

17 Then the LORD said to me, ‘The people have said a good thing. 18 I will give them a prophet who will be like you. This special man will be an Israelite. I will tell him what to say. Then he will tell the people everything that I command him. 19 I myself will judge anyone who does not listen to my words. That is because the prophet will speak for me. 20 Perhaps a prophet may give you a false message. He may tell you that it comes from me. Then you must kill him. Or a prophet may say that he has a message from another god. You must kill him.’

21 You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not come from the LORD?’

22 The thing that he speaks about may not happen. If it does not happen, that message was not a true message. The LORD has not spoken. That prophet has given a false message to you. Do not be afraid of him!