Caring for the Priests
Deuteronomy 18, verse 1. “The priests, the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; the burnt offerings of the Lord shall be their portion; these they shall eat. Deuteronomy 18, verse 2. Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the Lord is their inheritance, as He said to them. Deuteronomy 18, verse 3. Now this shall be the judgment concerning the priests from the people, from those who offer sacrifices, whether it is a young bull or sheep: one shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. Deuteronomy 18, verse 4. The firstfruits of your grain, wine, and olive oil, and the firstfruit of the sheep's fleece you shall give to him. Deuteronomy 18, verse 5. For the Lord your God chose him out of all your tribes to stand before the Lord your God, to minister and to bless in His name, he and his sons forever among the children of Israel. Deuteronomy 18, verse 6. So if a Levite comes from one of your cities, from where he dwells among all the children of Israel, as his soul desires, to the place the Lord chooses, Deuteronomy 18, verse 7. then he may minister in the name of the Lord his God, as do all his brethren the Levites who stand before the Lord. Deuteronomy 18, verse 8. They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his paternal inheritance.
Avoiding Wickedness
Deuteronomy 18, verse 9. “Now if you enter the land the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to do the abominations of those nations. Deuteronomy 18, verse 10. There shall not be found among you anyone who purifies his son or daughter in the fire, or one who practices divination, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, Deuteronomy 18, verse 11. or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. Deuteronomy 18, verse 12. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord your God, and because of these abominations the Lord your God will destroy them before you. Deuteronomy 18, verse 13. You shall be perfect before the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 18, verse 14. For all these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.
The Promise of a Prophet
Deuteronomy 18, verse 15. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear, Deuteronomy 18, verse 16. according to all you asked from the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let us not hear again the voice of the Lord our God, nor let us see this great fire any more, lest we die.’ Deuteronomy 18, verse 17. Then the Lord said to me, ‘What they have spoken is good. Deuteronomy 18, verse 18. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and I will put My word in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all I command Him. Deuteronomy 18, verse 19. Therefore, whatever man will not listen to whatever the Prophet speaks in My name, I will require it of him. Deuteronomy 18, verse 20. But whatever prophet speaks impiously in My name a word I have not ordered him to speak, or who speaks in the name of different gods, that prophet shall die.’ Deuteronomy 18, verse 21. Now if you should say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word the Lord has not spoken?’— Deuteronomy 18, verse 22. whatever word a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing the Lord has not spoken; the prophet spoke that word impiously; you shall stay away from him.