Deuteronomy 18

All 22 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

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1. 1The priests and Levites — the entire tribe of Levi — will receive no land or inheritance among the rest of Israel. Instead, they will live off the food offerings made by fire to the LORD; that is their share.
2. 2They won't receive any land inheritance like the other tribes. The LORD himself is their inheritance, just as he promised them.
3. 3Here is what the priests are entitled to from the people: whenever someone offers an ox or a sheep as a sacrifice, the shoulder, both cheeks, and the stomach must be given to the priest.
4. 4You must also give him the first portion of your grain, your new wine, your olive oil, and the first wool sheared from your sheep.
5. 5The LORD your God chose the tribe of Levi out of all your tribes to stand and serve in the LORD's name — them and their descendants forever.
6. 6Now, if a Levite living in any town anywhere in Israel wants to move to the place the LORD chooses as his dwelling,
7. 7he may serve there in the name of the LORD his God, just like all the other Levites who minister before the LORD at that place.
8. 8He will receive an equal share of the food with the other Levites, on top of whatever money he has from selling family property.
9. 9When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, don't adopt the disgusting practices of the nations already living there.
10. 10No one among you should make a son or daughter pass through fire, practice divination, interpret omens, cast spells, or practice sorcery.
11. 11or a charmer, or one who consults with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12. 12Anyone who does these things is an abomination to the LORD. It's precisely because of these disgusting practices that the LORD your God is driving those nations out ahead of you.
13. 13You shall be perfect with the LORD your God.
14. 14The nations you're about to displace listen to sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the LORD your God has not allowed you to do that.
15. 15The LORD your God will raise up a prophet for you from among your own people — someone like me. You must listen to him.
16. 16This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, "Do not let me hear the voice of the LORD my God again or see this great fire anymore, so that I do not die."
17. 17The LORD told me, "What they've said is right.
18. 18I will raise up a prophet from among their own people, someone like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him to say.
19. 19If anyone refuses to listen to the words that prophet speaks in my name, I myself will hold that person accountable.
20. 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 shall die.
21. 21You might wonder, "How can we tell whether a message really comes from the LORD or not?"
22. 22Here's the test: if a prophet speaks in the LORD's name and what he says doesn't come true, that message wasn't from the LORD. The prophet spoke on his own authority. Don't be afraid of him.