Deuteronomy 18

Portion of the Levites

1“1The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His 2portion. 23They shall have no inheritance among their 4countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He 5promised them.

3“6Now this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep, of which they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. 4You shall give him the 7first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first shearing of your sheep. 58For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to 9stand 10and serve in the name of the Lord forever.

6“Now if a Levite comes from any of your 11towns throughout Israel where he 12resides, and comes 13whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses, 7then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. 814They shall eat 15equal portions, except what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.

Spiritism Forbidden

9“When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to 1617imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10There shall not be found among you anyone 18who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one 19who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11or one who casts a spell, 20or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and 21because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. 1322You shall be 23blameless before the Lord your God. 14For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who 24practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

15“25The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your 26countrymen, you shall listen to him. 16This is 27according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 1728The Lord said to me, ‘They have 29spoken well. 18I will raise up a prophet from among their 30countrymen like you, and 31I will put My words in his mouth, and 32he shall speak to them all that I command him. 1933It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20But the prophet who speaks a word 34presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or 35which he speaks in the name of other gods, 36that prophet shall die.’ 2137You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 2238When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it 39presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.