Deuteronomy
Chapter 18
1 The Levite priests and the whole Levi tribe won’t have any property or share with Israel. They will eat the food given to God by fire and his share.
2 So they will not receive land among their brothers; God is their share, as he told them.
3 The priest should get this from the people who give a sacrifice, whether it’s a cow or sheep: they must give the priest the shoulder, both cheeks, and the stomach.
4 Give the first of your grain, wine, oil, and the first wool from your sheep to him.
5 God has chosen him from all your tribes to serve in God’s name, him and his sons forever.
6 If a Levite arrives from any of your towns throughout Israel where he has been staying, and he comes with all his heart’s desire to the location God has chosen;
7 He will serve in God’s name, like his fellow Levite priests who serve before God.
8 They will have equal shares to eat, in addition to what comes from selling their family inheritance.
9 When you go into the land that God is giving you, do not learn to do the terrible things that those nations do.
10 No one among you should make their son or daughter go through fire, use magic, tell the future, cast spells, or be a witch.
11 A person who charms, talks to spirits, practices magic, or communicates with the dead.
12 Everyone who does these things is hated by God, and because of these hateful acts, God pushes them away from you.
13 You should be without fault with God.
14 The countries you will take over listened to fortune-tellers and diviners, but God has not allowed you to do that.
15 God will send a Prophet from among your own people, like me; you should listen to him.
16 Just as you asked God at Horeb on the gathering day, saying, “I don’t want to hear God’s voice again, nor see this big fire, so that I won’t die.”
17 God told me, “They have said good things.”
18 I will bring up a Prophet from among their brothers, like you, and will put my words in his mouth; he will tell them everything I command him.
19 If anyone doesn’t listen to my words that he speaks in my name, I will hold them accountable.
20 But the prophet who dares to say something in my name that I didn’t tell him to say, or speaks in the name of other gods, will die.
21 If you think, “How can we tell what words God hasn’t spoken?”
22 When a prophet claims to speak for God, if what they say doesn’t happen, it is not a message from God. The prophet spoke arrogantly. You should not fear them.