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Deuteronomy 18

KJV · Chapter 18/34

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.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Moses details the support of priests and Levites through the people's offerings, forbids every form of divination, sorcery, and occultism practiced by the Canaanite nations, and promises that God would raise up 'a prophet like unto Moses' to continue guiding the people, with clear criteria for distinguishing true prophecy from false.

Explanation

The extensive prohibition of occult practices (divination, sorcery, necromancy) contrasts the legitimate way of seeking divine guidance — through the authentic prophets God would raise up — with the manipulative and deceptive methods common among Israel's neighboring nations. The promise of 'a prophet like unto Moses' is one of the most significant messianic prophecies of the Old Testament: while it had an immediate fulfillment in the succession of prophets throughout Israel's history, both Jewish and Christian tradition (Acts 3:22, 7:37) saw in it an anticipation of a definitive, singular prophetic figure. The practical test for a prophet — whether his word came to pass or not — offered an objective, verifiable test, though it required patience and time to confirm.

Fun facts

  • The promise of 'a prophet like unto Moses' (v. 15, 18) is quoted directly by Peter in Acts 3:22 and by Stephen in Acts 7:37 as referring to Jesus, making it one of the Old Testament texts most cited in the New Testament as a fulfilled messianic prophecy.
  • The list of forbidden practices ('that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire... a divinator, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer,' v. 10-11) is one of the most complete enumerations of occult practices in the whole Bible, and remains a reference point for theological discussions about spiritism and the occult to this day.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Deuteronomy 18:1It establishes that the Levitical priests live off the offerings made by fire to God, since they receive no land like the other tribes.
  2. Deuteronomy 18:2It repeats that the lack of a territorial inheritance is made up for by the LORD Himself being the symbolic “inheritance” of the Levites.
  3. Deuteronomy 18:3It concretely defines the priests’ due: specific parts of the sacrificed animal, such as the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the maw.
  4. Deuteronomy 18:4Besides the meat, the priests received the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil, and wool, sustaining the service at the sanctuary.
  5. Deuteronomy 18:5It justifies these privileges by divine choice: God set apart the tribe of Levi from among all the others to serve permanently in His name.
  6. Deuteronomy 18:6It guarantees any Levite, living in any town, the right to go serve at the central sanctuary whenever he wished.
  7. Deuteronomy 18:7Upon arrival, that Levite would have the same rights of service as the Levites already established there.
  8. Deuteronomy 18:8He would also be entitled to an equal share of support, regardless of whether he already had some family income of his own.
  9. Deuteronomy 18:9The list of forbidden practices — divination, sorcery, consulting spirits, magic — describes the religious methods common among neighboring peoples for predicting the future or speaking with the dead. The alternative offered in the next verse is listening to a prophet sent by God, not these methods.
  10. Deuteronomy 18:10It explicitly forbids child sacrifice and various forms of divination, practices common among Canaanite peoples.
  11. Deuteronomy 18:11It continues the list of prohibitions: charms, consulting spirits, sorcery, and necromancy — speaking with the dead.
  12. Deuteronomy 18:12The reason given is direct: these practices are an abomination to God, and it is because of them that He drives these nations out of the land.
  13. Deuteronomy 18:13In contrast to these practices, the requirement for Israel is complete integrity before God.
  14. Deuteronomy 18:14It acknowledges that the neighboring nations rely on diviners and soothsayers, but this was never permitted to Israel.
  15. Deuteronomy 18:15The promise of a “Prophet... like unto me” raised up by God was read by generations of Jews as pointing to a specific future prophet, and later, by New Testament writers, as a reference to Jesus. It’s a verse with different readings depending on the tradition.
  16. Deuteronomy 18:16It explains the origin of this arrangement: the people themselves, at Horeb, asked not to hear God’s direct voice or see the fire anymore, for fear of dying.
  17. Deuteronomy 18:17God approves this request from the people, acknowledging that they did well to ask for an intermediary.
  18. Deuteronomy 18:18He promises to raise up a prophet like Moses, putting God’s own words in his mouth to speak to the people.
  19. Deuteronomy 18:19Whoever did not listen to the words of that future prophet would have to answer directly to God.
  20. Deuteronomy 18:20But the prophet who spoke on his own, without a command from God, or in the name of other gods, was to be put to death.
  21. Deuteronomy 18:21The test for knowing whether a prophet truly speaks for God is simple: his word must come true. If what he announced doesn’t happen, it’s a sign he spoke on his own, not in the name of the LORD.
  22. Deuteronomy 18:22It gives the practical criterion for recognizing a false prophet: if a word spoken in God’s name does not come true, it did not come from God.

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