Deuteronomy 18:3-13

3 Now this shall be the share of the priest from the people, from {those who sacrifice the sacrifice}, [whether it is] an ox, sheep, or goat, and they shall give the priest the shoulder and the jawbones and the stomach.

4 The firstfruits of your grain, your wine, and your olive oil and the firstfruits of the fleece of your sheep you shall give to him.

5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him from [among] all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of Yahweh, he and his sons {forever}.

6 And if a Levite comes from one of your {towns} from {anywhere in Israel} where he is residing, {he may come whenever he desires}, to the place that Yahweh will choose,

7 and he may minister in the name of Yahweh his God, [just] like all his brothers, {the Levites who stand there} {before} Yahweh.

8 They shall eat {equal portions}, apart from what he may receive from the sale of his patrimony.

9 "When you come to the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, you must not learn to do like the detestable practices of those nations.

10 [There] shall not be found among you one who makes his son or his daughter go through the fire, [or] {one who practices divination}, [or] an interpreter of signs, or an augur, or sorcerer,

11 or one who casts magic spells, or one who consults [a] spirit of the dead, or spiritist, or one who inquires of the dead.

12 For everyone doing these [things] [is] detestable to Yahweh, and because of these detestable things Yahweh your God [is] driving them out from {before you}.

13 You must be blameless before Yahweh your God.

Deuteronomy 18:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 18

This chapter gives an account of the provision made for the priests and Levites, with the reason of it, De 18:1-5, of allowance of a country Levite to minister at Jerusalem, and take his portion with the rest, De 18:6-8, and of several persons of bad practices not to be suffered among the people of Israel, De 18:9-14, and of an extraordinary prophet that should be raised up among them, to whom they should hearken, or it would be the worse for them, De 18:15-19, but a false prophet was to be put to death, of whom a sign is given by which he might be known, De 18:20-22.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "the sacrificers of the sacrifice"
• [b]. Hebrew "firstfruit"
• [c]. Hebrew "firstfruit"
• [d]. Literally "all [of] the days"
• [e]. Hebrew "the"
• [f]. Literally "gates"
• [g]. Literally "all [of] Israel"
• [h]. Literally "he may come in all the desire of his soul/inner self"
• [i]. Literally "the Levites the ones standing there"
• [j]. Literally "to the face of"
• [k]. Literally "a portion like a portion"
• [l]. Hebrew meaning of these phrases/words is not certain; also could translate as "except [what they receive] from the sale of their fathers' [estates]" (NASB); or "what he may inherit from his father's family"
• [m]. Literally "a diviner of divination"
• [n]. Or "soothsayer"
• [o]. Or "an interpreter of omens"
• [p]. Or "medium"
• [q]. Or "necromancer"
• [r]. Literally "the face of you"