1 The Levitical priests—indeed the whole tribe of Levi—shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the food offerings to the LORD; that is their inheritance. 2 Although they have no inheritance among their brothers, the LORD is their inheritance, as He promised them. 3 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, the jowls, and the stomach. 4 You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool sheared from your flock. 5 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. 6 Now if a Levite moves from any town of residence throughout Israel and comes in all earnestness to the place the LORD will choose, 7 then he shall serve in the name of the LORD his God like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the LORD. 8 They shall eat equal portions, even though he has received money from the sale of his father’s estate. 9 When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery, 11 casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead. 12 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. 13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 Though these nations, which you will dispossess, listen to conjurers and diviners, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him. 16 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!” 17 Then the LORD said to me, “They have spoken well. 18 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. 19 And I will hold accountable anyone who does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name. 20 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.” 21 You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?” 22 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.
Deuteronomy · Majority Standard Bible
Deuteronomy 18 Majority Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 18:8–9; Deuteronomy 10:9; 1 Corinthians 9:13–14; Deuteronomy 12:19; Joshua 13:14
- 2 Isaiah 61:6; Lamentations 3:24; Psalm 73:24–26; Genesis 15:1; 1 Peter 2:9
- 3 Leviticus 7:30–34; Deuteronomy 12:27
- 4 Nehemiah 12:44–47; Exodus 23:19; Leviticus 23:17; Numbers 18:12–24; 2 Chronicles 31:4–10
- 5 Deuteronomy 10:8; Numbers 3:10; Exodus 28:1–14; Deuteronomy 17:12; Numbers 16:5
- 6 Numbers 35:2–3; Deuteronomy 12:5; 1 Timothy 3:1; Psalm 26:8; 1 Peter 5:2
- 7 2 Chronicles 31:2–4
- 8 Nehemiah 12:44; Nehemiah 12:47; 2 Chronicles 31:4; Luke 10:7; Leviticus 7:14
- 9 Deuteronomy 12:29–31; Leviticus 18:26–27; Leviticus 18:30
- 10 Leviticus 19:31; Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:31; Acts 19:19
- 11 1 Samuel 28:11–14; Leviticus 19:31
- 12 Leviticus 18:24; Deuteronomy 9:4; Leviticus 18:27
- 13 Genesis 17:1; Matthew 5:48; Genesis 6:9; Philippians 3:12; Psalm 37:37
- 14 Acts 14:16; Genesis 20:6; Psalm 147:19–20; Deuteronomy 18:10
- 15 Acts 3:22–23; Acts 7:37; John 1:45; Deuteronomy 18:18–19; Hebrews 1:1–2
- 16 Exodus 20:19; Deuteronomy 9:10; Deuteronomy 5:23–28; Hebrews 12:19
- 17 Deuteronomy 5:28
- 18 John 8:28; John 12:49–50; Deuteronomy 18:15; John 4:25; John 17:8
- 19 Acts 3:22–23; Hebrews 2:3; Hebrews 12:25–26; Hebrews 10:26; Hebrews 3:7
- 20 Deuteronomy 13:1–5; Jeremiah 27:15; Jeremiah 23:31; Zechariah 13:3; Ezekiel 13:6
- 21 1 John 4:1–3; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; Revelation 2:2
- 22 Deuteronomy 18:20; 2 Kings 20:1; Jeremiah 28:1–17; Zechariah 1:5–6; Jonah 4:2
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… "They shall have no inheritance, for the Lord Himself is their inheritance." And again, "The priests the Levites shall have no part in the whole tribe of Levi, nor substance with Israel; their substance is the offerings (fructifications) of the Lord: these shall they eat." Wherefore also Paul says, "I do not seek after a gift, but I seek after …
… prophet indeed He was; for it was of Himself He said, that "a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country." Again, of Him it was said to Moses, "A Prophet will I raise up to them of their brethren, like unto thee." Like, namely, as to the form of the flesh, but not in the eminence of …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
Moses then, the prophet, saith, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me: but let that "like unto me" be reserved awhile to be examined in its proper place.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)