Deuteronomy 18:15-22
New English Translation
15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your fellow Israelites;[a] you must listen to him. 16 This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our[b] God anymore or see this great fire anymore lest we die.” 17 The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good. 18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command. 19 I will personally hold responsible[c] anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet[d] speaks in my name.
20 “But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized[e] him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. 21 Now if you say to yourselves,[f] ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?’[g]— 22 whenever a prophet speaks in my[h] name and the prediction[i] is not fulfilled,[j] then I have[k] not spoken it;[l] the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 18:15 tc The MT expands here on the usual formula by adding “from among you” (cf. Deut 17:15; 18:18; Smr; a number of Greek texts). The expansion seems to be for the purpose of emphasis, i.e., the prophet to come must be not just from Israel but an Israelite by blood.tn “from your brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NAB “from among your own kinsmen”; NASB “from your countrymen”; NRSV “from among your own people.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 17.
- Deuteronomy 18:16 tn The Hebrew text uses the collective singular in this verse: “my God…lest I die.”
- Deuteronomy 18:19 tn Heb “will seek from him”; NAB “I myself will make him answer for it”; NRSV “will hold accountable.”
- Deuteronomy 18:19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the prophet mentioned in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Deuteronomy 18:20 tn Or “commanded” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
- Deuteronomy 18:21 tn Heb “in your heart.”
- Deuteronomy 18:21 tn Heb “know the word which the Lord has not spoken.” The issue here is not understanding the meaning of the message, but distinguishing a genuine prophetic word from a false one.
- Deuteronomy 18:22 tn Heb “the Lord’s.” See note on the word “his” in v. 5.
- Deuteronomy 18:22 tn Heb “the word,” but a predictive word is in view here. Cf. NAB “his oracle.”
- Deuteronomy 18:22 tn Heb “does not happen or come to pass.”
- Deuteronomy 18:22 tn Heb “the Lord has.” See note on the word “his” in v. 5.
- Deuteronomy 18:22 tn Heb “that is the word which the Lord has not spoken.”
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