CHAPTER 18
The Levitical
priests—
indeed the whole
tribe
of Levi—
shall have
no
portion
or inheritance
with
Israel.
They are to eat
the offerings made by fire
to the LORD;
that is their inheritance.
Although they have
no
inheritance
among
their brothers,
the LORD
is their inheritance,
as
He promised
them.
This
shall be
the priests’
share
from the people
who offer
a sacrifice,
whether
a bull
or
a sheep:
the priests
are to be given
the shoulder,
jowls,
and the stomach.
You are to give
them
the firstfruits
of your grain,
new wine,
and oil,
and the first
wool sheared
from your flock.
For
the LORD
your God
has chosen
Levi and his sons
out of all
your tribes
to stand
and minister
in His
name
for all
time.
Now if
a Levite
moves
from any
town
of residence
throughout
Israel
and comes
in all
earnestness
to
the place
the LORD
will choose,
then he shall serve
in the name
of the LORD
his God
like all
his fellow
Levites
who stand
there
before
the LORD.
They shall eat
equal portions,
even though
he has received money from
the sale
of his father’s estate.
When
you
enter
the land
the LORD
your God
is giving you,
do not
imitate
the detestable ways
of the nations
there.
Let no one
be found
among you
who sacrifices
his son
or daughter
in the fire,
practices divination
or conjury,
interprets omens,
practices sorcery,
For whoever
does
these things
is detestable
to the LORD,
and because
of these
detestable things
the LORD
your God
is driving out
the nations before you.
Though
these
nations
you
shall dispossess
listen
to
conjurers
and diviners,
the LORD
your God
has not
permitted you
to do so.
The LORD
your God
will raise up
for you a prophet
like me
from among
your own brothers.
You must listen
to him.
This is what
you asked
of
the LORD
your God
at Horeb
on the day
of the assembly,
when you said,
“Let us not
hear
the voice
of the LORD
our God
or see
this
great
fire
anymore,
so that we will not
die!"
I 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.
And I
will hold accountable
anyone
who
does not
listen
to
My words
that
that prophet speaks
in My name.
But
if any prophet
dares
to speak
a message
in My name
that
I have not
commanded
him to speak,
or
to speak
in the name
of other
gods,
that
prophet
must be put to death.”
When
a prophet
speaks
in the name
of the LORD
and the message
does not
come to pass
or come true,
that
is a message
the LORD
has not
spoken.
The prophet
has spoken
presumptuously.
Do not
be afraid
of him.