Deuteronomy 18

Portion of the Levites

1 aThe Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His
Or inheritance
portion.
2 cThey shall have no inheritance among their
Lit brothers
countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He
Lit spoke to
promised them.

3 fNow this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep, of which they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. 4You shall give him the gfirst fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first shearing of your sheep. 5 h“For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to istand
Lit to
and serve in the name of the Lord forever.

6Now if a Levite comes from any of your
Lit gates
towns throughout Israel where he lresides, and comes
Lit with all the desire of his soul
whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses,
7then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. 8 nThey shall eat
Lit portion like portion
equal portions, except what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.

Spiritism Forbidden

9When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to
Lit do according to
,
qimitate the detestable things of those nations.
10There shall not be found among you anyone rwho makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one swho practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11or one who casts a spell, tor a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and ubecause of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. 13 v“You shall be
Lit complete, perfect; or having integrity
blameless before the Lord your God.
14For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who xpractice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

15 y“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your
Lit brothers
countrymen, you shall listen to him.
16“This is aaaccording to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 17 ab“The Lord said to me, ‘They have
Lit done well what they have spoken
spoken well.
18I will raise up a prophet from among their
Lit brothers
countrymen like you, and aeI will put My words in his mouth, and afhe shall speak to them all that I command him.
19agIt shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20But the prophet who speaks a word ahpresumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or aiwhich he speaks in the name of other gods,
Lit and that
that prophet shall die.’
21
Lit if you say
You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’
22 alWhen a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it ampresumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
Copyright information for NASB1995