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The Torah · Old Testament

Deuteronomy 18

Provision for Levites and a prophet like Moses

General context

The priests and Levites receive sacred portions rather than a tribal inheritance among their brothers. Specified sacrifice portions, first produce and fleece support their service. A Levite who comes to the chosen place may minister and share its food with the others. The chapter then forbids practices including passing children through fire, divination and consulting the dead. In their place, Moses announces that the Lord will raise a prophet from among the people, like him, and put words in that prophet's mouth. Presumptuous speech in the Lord's name or speech in other gods' names is assigned death. A prediction's failure to occur identifies a word the Lord did not speak.

Cited passages: Deuteronomy 18:1, Deuteronomy 18:2, Deuteronomy 18:3, Deuteronomy 18:4, Deuteronomy 18:5, Deuteronomy 18:6, Deuteronomy 18:7, Deuteronomy 18:8, Deuteronomy 18:9, Deuteronomy 18:10, Deuteronomy 18:11, Deuteronomy 18:12, Deuteronomy 18:13, Deuteronomy 18:14, Deuteronomy 18:15, Deuteronomy 18:16, Deuteronomy 18:17, Deuteronomy 18:18, Deuteronomy 18:19, Deuteronomy 18:20, Deuteronomy 18:21, Deuteronomy 18:22

Deuteronomy 18 (KJV)

1The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his inheritance.

2Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the Lord is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.

3And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.

4The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.

5For the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever.

6And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the Lord shall choose;

7Then he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the Lord.

8They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.

9When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

10There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

12For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

13Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.

14For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

15The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

16According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

17And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

18I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

19And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

21And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?

22When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The priest's due from an ox or sheep is named as the shoulder, two cheeks and maw in the KJV and ASV; BBE renders the last part stomach. The arriving Levite's equal food portion is mentioned alongside the proceeds from his family property. The promised prophet is linked to the people's request at Horeb not to hear the divine voice and see the fire again. No personal name is supplied for that prophet here. The final test concerns a claimed word whose predicted event does not happen.

Cited passages: Deuteronomy 18:1, Deuteronomy 18:2, Deuteronomy 18:3, Deuteronomy 18:4, Deuteronomy 18:5, Deuteronomy 18:6, Deuteronomy 18:7, Deuteronomy 18:8, Deuteronomy 18:15, Deuteronomy 18:16, Deuteronomy 18:17, Deuteronomy 18:18, Deuteronomy 18:19, Deuteronomy 18:20, Deuteronomy 18:21, Deuteronomy 18:22

Literary context

The movement from supporting sacred service to identifying authorized speech makes receiving guidance a central concern. The promised speaker answers the remembered fear at Horeb and is accountable for the words spoken. The closing imagined question asks how the people can recognize an unauthorized word. Read beside chapter 13, the tests have different scopes: an unfulfilled prediction exposes presumption here, while a fulfilled sign does not justify following other gods there.

Cited passages: Deuteronomy 18:9, Deuteronomy 18:10, Deuteronomy 18:11, Deuteronomy 18:12, Deuteronomy 18:13, Deuteronomy 18:14, Deuteronomy 18:15, Deuteronomy 18:16, Deuteronomy 18:17, Deuteronomy 18:18, Deuteronomy 18:19, Deuteronomy 18:20, Deuteronomy 18:21, Deuteronomy 18:22, Deuteronomy 13:1, Deuteronomy 13:2, Deuteronomy 13:3, Deuteronomy 13:4, Deuteronomy 13:5

Key moments

  1. A share for the arriving Levite (Deuteronomy 18:8). The Levite who comes to serve is to share the food portions with the others.
  2. A prophet from among the people (Deuteronomy 18:15). Moses announces a prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen.
  3. The event does not occur (Deuteronomy 18:22). The rule identifies a failed prediction as a word spoken presumptuously.

For reflection

How do the promised prophet and the final question address the people's need to hear reliably? What changes when the tests in chapters 13 and 18 are read together?

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