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Deuteronomy 18

1The Levitical priests—the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no share or inheritance with Israel. They will eat Yahweh’s offerings made by fire and what belongs to him. 2Levi is to have no inheritance among his brothers; Yahweh is his inheritance, as he promised him.

3This is the priests’ due from the people, from those who sacrifice an ox or an animal from the flock: they must give the priest the shoulder, the two jaws, and the stomach. 4You must give him the first of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first fleece from your flock. 5For Yahweh your God chose him from all your tribes to stand and serve in Yahweh’s name, he and his sons for all time.

6If a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel, where he has been residing, and comes with all his heart’s desire to the place Yahweh chooses, 7he may serve in the name of Yahweh his God like all his brother Levites who stand there before Yahweh. 8They are to eat equal portions, apart from the proceeds from his ancestral property.

9When you enter the land Yahweh your God is giving you, do not learn to practice the detestable things of those nations. 10No one among you is to make his son or daughter pass through fire, practice divination, read omens, interpret signs, practice sorcery, 11cast spells, consult a medium or a spiritist, or seek out the dead. 12For everyone who does these things is detestable to Yahweh, and because of these detestable things Yahweh your God is driving them out before you. 13You must be wholehearted with Yahweh your God. 14These nations you are dispossessing listen to omen readers and diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do so.

15Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. You must listen to him. 16This is what you asked of Yahweh your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me never again hear the voice of Yahweh my God or see this great fire, so that I do not die.” 17Yahweh said to me, “What they have said is good. 18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19Whoever will not listen to my words that he speaks in my name, I myself will call to account. 20But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.”

21You may say in your heart, “How can we recognize a word that Yahweh has not spoken?” 22When a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name and the word does not happen or come true, that is a word Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

Translation notes 5

18:1–2 — Levi’s inheritance. The tribe has no territorial share like the other tribes. Its support comes from the offerings and produce assigned to Yahweh. “Brothers” here describes the other Israelites.

18:6–8 — Equal portions. A Levite who comes to the chosen sanctuary may share its provisions. The final Hebrew phrase is difficult; it appears to distinguish these portions from income connected with ancestral possessions. It does not clearly specify what was sold.

18:10–11 — Forbidden practices. Several ancient technical terms overlap, and their exact distinctions are uncertain. “Pass through fire” is the Hebrew wording; in this context it concerns the treatment of children in worship, elsewhere described as burning them.

18:13 — Wholehearted. The word can also mean “blameless” or “complete.” Here it calls for undivided allegiance to Yahweh rather than seeking supernatural guidance through the forbidden practices.

18:15–22 — A prophet like Moses. The passage establishes how Israel is to hear prophetic instruction and reject false claims. Its wording is translated within Deuteronomy’s own setting; later identifications of this prophet are not inserted into the text.