Deuteronomy 18

Privileges of Priests and Levites

1 # Deut 10.9; 1 Cor 9.13 “The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no allotment or inheritance within Israel. They may eat the offerings by fire#18.1 Or the gifts that are the Lord’s portion,#18.1 Meaning of Heb uncertain 2but they shall have no inheritance among the other members of the community; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.

3 # Lev 7.30–34 “This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two jowls, and the stomach. 4#Num 18.12The first fruits of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5#Deut 10.8For the Lord your God has chosen Levi#18.5 Heb him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.

6“If a Levite leaves any of your towns, from wherever he has been residing in Israel, and comes to the place that the Lord will choose (and he may come whenever he wishes), 7then he may minister in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow-Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord. 8#Neh 12.44, 47They shall have equal portions to eat, even though they have income from the sale of family possessions.#18.8 Meaning of Heb uncertain

Child-Sacrifice, Divination, and Magic Prohibited

9 # Deut 12.29–31 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations. 10#Lev 19.26, 31; Deut 12.31No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, 11or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. 12#Deut 9.4For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13You must remain completely loyal to the Lord your God. 14Although these nations that you are about to dispossess do give heed to soothsayers and diviners, as for you, the Lord your God does not permit you to do so.

A New Prophet Like Moses

15 # Jn 1.21; Acts 3.22; 7.37 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.#18.15 Heb him 16#Ex 20.19; Deut 5.23–27This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17#Deut 5.28Then the Lord replied to me, ‘They are right in what they have said. 18#v 15; Isa 51.16; Jn 4.25, 26I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet,#18.18 Heb in his mouth who shall speak to them everything that I command. 19#Acts 3.23Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet#18.19 Heb he shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. 20#Deut 13.1, 2, 5But any prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?’ 22#v 20; Jer 28.9If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.

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Deuteronomy 18: NRSVUE

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