Holman Christian Standard Bible

Deuteronomy 18:1-16 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

1. “The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They will eat the Lord’s fire offerings; that is their inheritance.

2. Although Levi has no inheritance among his brothers, the Lord is his inheritance, as He promised him.

3. This is the priests’ share from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether it is an ox, a sheep, or a goat; the priests are to be given the shoulder, jaws, and stomach.

4. You are to give him the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first sheared wool of your flock.

5. For Yahweh your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes to stand and minister in His name from now on.

6. When a Levite leaves one of your towns where he lives in Israel and wants to go to the place the Lord chooses,

7. he may serve in the name of Yahweh his God like all his fellow Levites who minister there in the presence of the Lord.

8. They will eat equal portions besides what he has received from the sale of the family estate.

9. “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations.

10. No one among you is to make his son or daughter pass through the fire, practice divination, tell fortunes, interpret omens, practice sorcery,

11. cast spells, consult a medium or a familiar spirit, or inquire of the dead.

12. Everyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you because of these detestable things.

13. You must be blameless before the Lord your God.

14. Though these nations you are about to drive out listen to fortune-tellers and diviners, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do this.

15. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.

16. This is what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this great fire any longer, so that we will not die! ’