18:1 The Levitical priests,¹ indeed, the entire tribe of Levi, will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings² of the LORD and of his inheritance.³ 18:2 And they⁴ will have no inheritance in the midst of their brothers; the LORD alone⁵ is their inheritance just as he had told them. 18:3 This shall be the priests’ fair allotment⁶ from the people, those offering sacrifices whether bull or sheep—(they must give to the priest) the shoulder, the jaws, and the stomach. 18:4 You must give them your choice grain, new wine, olive oil, and sheep fleece. 18:5 For the LORD your God has chosen them from all your tribes to stand⁷ to serve in his⁸ name, they and their sons forever. 18:6 If a⁹ Levite should come from one of your villages, from any part of Israel where he might be living, and he comes by his own free will¹⁰ to the place the LORD has chosen, 18:7 and he serves in the name of the LORD his God like his fellow Levites who stand there before the LORD, 18:8 they and he must all eat the same¹¹ despite any profits he might gain from the sale of his inheritance.

18:9 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, you must not learn the detestable practices of those nations there. 18:10 There must never be found among you anyone who passes his son or daughter through the fire,¹² anyone who practices divination,¹³ a soothsayer,¹⁴ an augurer,¹⁵ a sorcerer,¹⁶ 18:11 a caster of spells,¹⁷ one who consults a ghost,¹⁸ a practitioner of the occult,¹⁹ or a necromancer.²⁰ 18:12 Whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD and because of these things²¹ he²² will expel them from before you. 18:13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God. 18:14 Those nations that you are about to dispossess attend to soothsayers and diviners, but he²³ has not appointed you to such things. 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your own kinfolk;²⁴ you must listen to him 18:16 in line with everything you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb in the day of the convocation: “Do not let us hear the voice of the LORD our God any more nor see this great fire any more lest we die.” 18:17 The LORD then said to me, “What they have asked is good. 18:18 I will raise up a prophet for them from among their kinfolk like you. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I want.²⁵ 18:19 Anyone who then pays no attention²⁶ to the words that he will speak in my name, I myself will ask him why.²⁷ 18:20 But the prophet who will presume to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. 18:21 Or if you say to yourselves, how can we know what the LORD has not spoken? 18:22 Whenever a given²⁸ prophet speaks in my²⁹ name and the thing is not fulfilled,³⁰ then I have³¹ not spoken it; the prophet has presumed to speak it so you need not fear him.”