Deuteronomy 18

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 "The whole priestly tribe of Levi shall have no share in the heritage with Israel; they shall live on the oblations of the LORD and the portions due to him.	1 “The priests and the Levites, and all who are from the same tribe, shall have no portion or inheritance with the rest of Israel. For they shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord and his oblations.
2 Levi shall have no heritage among his brothers; the LORD himself is his heritage, as he has told him.	2 And they shall receive nothing else from the possession of their brothers. For the Lord himself is their inheritance, just as he said to them.
3 The priests shall have a right to the following things from the people: from those who are offering a sacrifice, whether the victim is from the herd or from the flock, the priest shall receive the shoulder, the jowls and the stomach.	3 This shall be the recompense for the priests from the people, and from those who offer victims, whether they will immolate an ox or a sheep. They shall give to the priest the shoulder and the breast,
4 You shall also give him the first fruits of your grain and wine and oil, as well as the first fruits of the shearing of your flock;	4 the first-fruits of grain, wine, and oil, and a portion of the wool from the shearing of the sheep.
5 for the LORD, your God, has chosen him and his sons out of all your tribes to be always in attendance to minister in the name of the LORD.	5 For the Lord your God himself has chosen him out of all your tribes, so that he may stand and minister to the name of the Lord, him and his sons, forever.
6 "When a Levite goes from one of your communities anywhere in Israel in which he ordinarily resides, to visit, as his heart may desire, the place which the LORD chooses,	6 If a Levite departs from one of the cities, throughout all of Israel, in which he lives, and if he wills and desires to go to the place which the Lord will choose,
7 he may minister there in the name of the LORD, his God, like all his fellow Levites who are in attendance there before the LORD.	7 he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as do all his brothers, the Levites, who will be standing at that time in the sight of the Lord.
8 He shall then receive the same portions to eat as the rest, along with his monetary offerings and heirlooms.	8 He shall receive the same portion of food as the rest also receive, besides that which is due to him in his own city, by succession from his fathers.
9 "When you come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of the peoples there.	9 When you will have entered into the land which the Lord your God will give to you, be careful that you are not willing to imitate the abominations of those nations.
10 Let there not be found among you anyone who immolates his son or daughter in the fire, nor a fortune-teller, soothsayer, charmer, diviner,	10 Do not let there be found among you one who would purify his son or daughter by leading them through fire, nor one who consults seers, nor one who observes dreams or omens. Do not let there be found among you one who practices the occult,
11 or caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead.	11 nor one who uses spells, nor one who consults demonic spirits, nor a diviner, nor one who seeks the truth from the dead.
12 Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the LORD, and because of such abominations the LORD, your God, is driving these nations out of your way.	12 For the Lord abominates all these things. And, because of these wicked ways, he will destroy them at your arrival.
13 You, however, must be altogether sincere toward the LORD, your God.	13 You shall be perfect and without blemish with the Lord your God.
14 Though these nations whom you are to dispossess listen to their soothsayers and fortune-tellers, the LORD, your God, will not permit you to do so.	14 These nations, whose land you shall possess, they listen to soothsayers and diviners. But you have been otherwise instructed by the Lord your God.
15 "A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen.	15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a PROPHET from your nation and from your brothers, similar to me. You shall listen to him,
16 This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, 'Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God, nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.'	16 just as you petitioned of the Lord your God at Horeb, when the assembly was gathered together, and you said: ‘Let me no longer hear the voice of the Lord my God, and let me no longer see this very great fire, lest I die.’
17 And the LORD said to me, 'This was well said.	17 And the Lord said to me: ‘They have spoken all these things well.
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him.	18 I will raise up a prophet for them, from the midst of their brothers, similar to you. And I will place my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all the things that I will instruct him.
19 If any man will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it.	19 But against anyone who is not willing to listen to his words, which he will speak in my name, I will stand forth as the avenger.
20 But if a prophet presumes to speak in my name an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.'	20 But if a prophet, having been corrupted by arrogance, chooses to speak, in my name, things which I did not instruct him to say, or to speak in the name of foreign gods, he shall be put to death.
21 "If you say to yourselves, 'How can we recognize an oracle which the LORD has spoken?',	21 But if, in silent thought, you respond: “How will I be able to recognize a word which the Lord has not spoken?”
22 know that, even though a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if his oracle is not fulfilled or verified, it is an oracle which the LORD did not speak. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, and you shall have no fear of him.	22 you shall have this sign. If whatever that prophet predicts in the name of the Lord does not happen, then the Lord has not spoken it. Instead, the prophet has formed it through the swelling of his own mind. And for this reason, you shall not fear him.’ ”