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Deuteronomy 18:15

New American Standard Bible (NASB ©1995) [2]
— “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.
King James Version (KJV 1769) [2]
— The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
English Revised Version (ERV 1885)
— The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
American Standard Version (ASV 1901) [2]
— Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Webster's Revision of the KJB (WEB 1833)
— The LORD thy God will raise up to thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like to me; to him ye shall hearken.
Darby's Translation (DBY 1890)
— Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken;
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (EBR 1902)
— A prophet out of thy midst, of thy brethren, like unto me, will Yahweh thy God, raise up unto thee—unto him, shall ye hearken:—
Young's Literal Translation (YLT 1898)
— 'A prophet out of thy midst, out of thy brethren, like to me, doth Jehovah thy God raise up to thee—unto him ye hearken;
Douay-Rheims Challoner Revision (DR 1750)
— The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a PROPHET of thy nation and of thy brethren like unto me: him thou shalt hear:
Geneva Bible (GNV 1560)
— The Lorde thy God will raise vp vnto thee a Prophet like vnto me, from among you, euen of thy brethren: vnto him ye shall hearken,
Original King James Bible (AV 1611) [2]
— The LORD thy God will raise vp vnto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like vnto me, vnto him ye shall hearken,
Lamsa Bible (1957)
— The LORD your God will raise up to you a prophet like me from the midst of you, of your brethren; to him you shall hearken.
Brenton Greek Septuagint (LXX, Restored Names)
— The Lord thy God shall raise up to thee a prophet of thy brethren, like me; him shall ye hear:
Full Hebrew Names / Holy Name KJV (2008) [2] [3]
— Yahweh thy Elohim will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Strong's Numbers & Hebrew NamesHebrew Old TestamentColor-Code/Key Word Studies
Yähwè יָהוֶה 3068
{3068} Prime
יְהֹוָה
Y@hovah
{yeh-ho-vaw'}
From H1961; (the) self Existent or eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God.
thy ´Élöhîm אֱלֹהִים 430
{0430} Prime
אֱלֹהִים
'elohiym
{el-o-heem'}
Plural of H0433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative.
will raise up 6965
{6965} Prime
קוּם
quwm
{koom}
A primitive root; to rise (in various applications, literally, figuratively, intensively and causatively).
z8686
<8686> Grammar
Stem - Hiphil (See H8818)
Mood - Imperfect (See H8811)
Count - 4046
unto thee a Prophet 5030
{5030} Prime
נָבִיא
nabiy'
{naw-bee'}
From H5012; a prophet or (generally) inspired man.
from the midst 7130
{7130} Prime
קֶרֶב
qereb
{keh'-reb}
From H7126; properly the nearest part, that is, the centre, whether literally, figuratively or adverbially (especially with preposition).
x4480
(4480) Complement
מִן
min
{min}
For H4482; properly a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses.
of thee, of thy brethren, 251
{0251} Prime
אָח
'ach
{awkh}
A primitive word; a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance (like H0001)).
x4480
(4480) Complement
מִן
min
{min}
For H4482; properly a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses.
like unto me; x3644
(3644) Complement
כְמוֹ
k@mow
{kem-o'}
A form of the prefix K, but used separately (compare H3651); as, thus, so.
unto x413
(0413) Complement
אֵל
'el
{ale}
(Used only in the shortened constructive form (the second form)); a primitive particle, properly denoting motion towards, but occasionally used of a quiescent position, that is, near, with or among; often in general, to.
him ye shall hearken; 8085
{8085} Prime
שָׁמַע
shama`
{shaw-mah'}
A primitive root; to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively to tell, etc.).
z8799
<8799> Grammar
Stem - Qal (See H8851)
Mood - Imperfect (See H8811)
Count - 19885
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary

Deuteronomy 18:15-19

_ _ Deuteronomy 18:15-19. Christ the Prophet is to be heard.

_ _ The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet — The insertion of this promise, in connection with the preceding prohibition, might warrant the application (which some make of it) to that order of true prophets whom God commissioned in unbroken succession to instruct, to direct, and warn His people; and in this view the purport of it is, “There is no need to consult with diviners and soothsayers, as I shall afford you the benefit of divinely appointed prophets, for judging of whose credentials a sure criterion is given” (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). But the prophet here promised was pre-eminently the Messiah, for He alone was “like unto Moses” (see on Deuteronomy 34:10) “in His mediatorial character; in the peculiar excellence of His ministry; in the number, variety, and magnitude of His miracles; in His close and familiar communion with God; and in His being the author of a new dispensation of religion.” This prediction was fulfilled fifteen hundred years afterwards and was expressly applied to Jesus Christ by Peter (Acts 3:22, Acts 3:23), and by Stephen (Acts 7:37).

Matthew Henry's Commentary

Deuteronomy 18:15-22

_ _ Here is, I. The promise of the great prophet, with a command to receive him, and hearken to him. Now,

_ _ 1. Some think it is the promise of a succession of prophets, that should for many ages be kept up in Israel. Besides the priests and Levites, their ordinary ministers, whose office it was to teach Jacob God's law, they should have prophets, extraordinary ministers, to reprove them for their faults, remind them of their duty, and foretel things to come, judgments for warning and deliverances for their comfort. Having these prophets, (1.) They need not use divinations, nor consult with familiar spirits, for they might enquire of God's prophets even concerning their private affairs, as Saul did when he was in quest of his father's asses, 1 Samuel 9:6. (2.) They could not miss the way of their duty through ignorance or mistake, nor differ in their opinions about it, having prophets among them, whom, in every difficult doubtful case, they might advise with and appeal to. These prophets were like unto Moses in some respects, though far inferior to him, Deuteronomy 34:10.

_ _ 2. Whether a succession of prophets be included in this promise or not, we are sure that it is primarily intended as a promise of Christ, and it is the clearest promise of him that is in all the law of Moses. It is expressly applied to our Lord Jesus as the Messiah promised (Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37), and the people had an eye to this promise when they said concerning him, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world (John 6:14); and it was his Spirit that spoke in all the other prophets, 1 Peter 1:11. Observe,

_ _ (1.) What it is that is here promised concerning Christ. What God promised Moses at Mount Sinai (which he relates, Deuteronomy 18:18), he promised the people (Deuteronomy 18:15) in God's name. [1.] That there should come a prophet, great above all the prophets, by whom God would make known himself and his will to the children of men more fully and clearly than ever he had done before. He is the light of the world, as prophecy was of the Jewish church, John 8:12. He is the Word, by whom God speaks to us, John 1:1; Hebrews 1:2. [2.] That God would raise him up from the midst of them. In his birth he should be one of that nation, should live among them and be sent to them. In his resurrection he should be raised up at Jerusalem, and thence his doctrine should go forth to all the world: thus God, having raised up his Son Christ Jesus, sent him to bless us. [3.] That he should be like unto Moses, only as much above him as the other prophets came short of him. Moses was such a prophet as was a law-giver to Israel and their deliverer out of Egypt, and so was Christ: he not only teaches, but rules and saves. Moses was the founder of a new dispensation by signs and wonders and mighty deeds, and so was Christ, by which he proved himself a teacher come from God. Was Moses faithful? So was Christ; Moses as a servant, but Christ as a Son. [4.] That God would put his words in his mouth, Deuteronomy 18:18. What messages God had to send to the children of men he would send them by him, and give him full instructions what to say and do as a prophet. Hence our Saviour says, My doctrine is not mine originally, but his that sent me, John 7:16. So that this great promise is performed; this Prophet has come, even Jesus; it is he that should come, and we are to look for no other.

_ _ (2.) The agreeableness of this designed dispensation to the people's avowed choice and desire at Mount Sinai, Deuteronomy 18:16, Deuteronomy 18:17. There God had spoken to them in thunder and lightning, out of the midst of the fire and thick darkness. Every word made their ears tingle and their hearts tremble, so that the whole congregation was ready to die with fear. In this fright, they begged hard that God would not speak to them in this manner any more (they could not bear it, it would overwhelm and distract them), but that he would speak to them by men like themselves, by Moses now, and afterwards by other prophets like unto him. “Well,” says God, “it shall be so; they shall be spoken to by men, whose terrors shall not make them afraid;” and, to crown the favour beyond what they were able to ask or think, in the fulness of time the Word itself was made flesh, and they saw his glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, not, as at Mount Sinai, full of majesty and terror, but full of grace and truth, John 1:14. Thus, in answer to the request of those who were struck with amazement by the law, God promised the incarnation of his Son, though we may suppose it far from the thoughts of those that made that request.

_ _ (3.) A charge and command given to all people to hear and believe, hear and obey, this great prophet here promised: Unto him you shall hearken (Deuteronomy 18:15); and whoever will not hearken to him shall be surely and severely reckoned with for his contempt (Deuteronomy 18:19): I will require it of him. God himself applied this to our Lord Jesus in the voice that came out of the excellent glory, Matthew 17:5, Hear you him, that is, this is he concerning whom it was said by Moses of old, Unto him you shall hearken; and Moses and Elias then stood by and assented to it. The sentence here passed on those that hearken not to this prophet is repeated and ratified in the New Testament. He that believeth not the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him, John 3:36. And how shall we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven? Hebrews 12:25. The Chaldee paraphrase here reads it, My Word shall require it of him, which can be no other than a divine person, Christ the eternal Word, to whom the Father has committed all judgement, and by whom he will at the last day judge the world. Whoever turns a deaf ear to Jesus Christ shall find that it is at his peril; the same that is the prophet is to be his judge, John 12:48.

_ _ II. Here is a caution against false prophets, 1. By way of threatening against the pretenders themselves, Deuteronomy 18:20. Whoever sets up for a prophet, and produces either a commission from the true God, shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of high treason against the crown and dignity of the King of kings, and that traitor shall be put to death (Deuteronomy 18:20), namely, by the judgment of the great sanhedrim, which, in process of time, sat at Jerusalem; and therefore our Saviour says that a prophet could not perish but at Jerusalem, and lays the blood of the prophets at Jerusalem's door (Luke 13:33, Luke 13:34), whom therefore God himself would punish; yet there false prophets were supported. 2. By way of direction to the people, that they might not be imposed upon by pretenders, of which there were many, as appears, Jeremiah 23:25; Ezekiel 13:6; 1 Kings 22:6. It is a very proper question which they are supposed to ask, Deuteronomy 18:21. Since it is so great a duty to hearken to the true prophets, and yet there is so much danger of being misled by false prophets, how shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? By what marks may we discover a cheat? Note, It highly concerns us to have a right touchstone wherewith to try the word we hear, that we may know what that word is which the Lord has not spoken. Whatever is directly repugnant to sense, to the light and law of nature, and to the plain meaning of the written word, we may be sure is not that which the Lord has spoken; nor that which gives countenance and encouragement to sin, or has a manifest tendency to the destruction of piety or charity: far be it from God that he should contradict himself. The rule here given in answer to this enquiry was adapted chiefly to that state, Deuteronomy 18:22. If there was any cause to suspect the sincerity of a prophet, let them observe that if he gave them any sign, or foretold something to come, and the event was not according to his prediction, they might be sure he was not sent of God. This does not refer so much to the foretelling of mercies and judgments (though as to these, and the difference between the predictions of mercies and judgments, there is a rule of discerning between truth and falsehood laid down by the prophet, Jeremiah 28:8, Jeremiah 28:9), but rather to the giving of signs on purpose to confirm their mission. Though the sign did come to pass, yet this would not serve to prove their mission if they called them to serve other gods; this point had been already settled, Deuteronomy 13:1-3. But, if the sign did not come to pass, this would serve to disprove their mission. “When Moses cast his rod upon the ground (it is bishop Patrick's explanation of this), and said it would become a serpent, if it had not accordingly been turned into a serpent, Moses had been a false prophet: if, when Elijah called for fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice, none had come, he had been no better than the prophets of Baal.” Samuel's mission was proved by this, that God let none of his words fall to the ground, 1 Samuel 3:19, 1 Samuel 3:20. And by the miracles Christ wrought, especially by that great sign he gave of his resurrection the third day, which came to pass as he foretold, it appeared that he was a teacher come from God. Lastly, They are directed not to be afraid of a false prophet; that is, not to be afraid of the judgments such a one might denounce to amuse people and strike terror upon them; nor to be afraid of executing the law upon him when, upon a strict and impartial scrutiny, it appeared that he was a false prophet. This command not to fear a false prophet implies that a true prophet, who proved his commission by clear and undeniable proofs, was to be feared, and it was at their peril if they offered him any violence or put any slight upon him.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Deuteronomy 18:15

Will raise up — Will produce and send into the world in due time. A prophet like unto me — Christ was truly, and in all commendable parts like him, in being both a prophet and a king and a priest and mediator, in the excellency of his ministry and work, in the glory of his miracles, in his familiar and intimate converse with God.

Geneva Bible Translation Notes

Deuteronomy 18:15

The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a (g) Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

(g) Meaning, a continual succession of prophets, till Christ, the end of all prophets, comes.

Cross-Reference Topical ResearchStrong's Concordance
a Prophet:

Deuteronomy 18:18-19 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. ... And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require [it] of him.
John 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Acts 3:22-23 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. ... And it shall come to pass, [that] every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Acts 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

like unto me:

Deuteronomy 5:5 (I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
Deuteronomy 34:10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
Luke 24:19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
1 Timothy 2:5 For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ... Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Hebrews 2:1-3 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let [them] slip. ... How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard [him];
Hebrews 3:2-6 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses [was faithful] in all his house. ... But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

unto him:

Matthew 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Luke 9:35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
Luke 10:16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Hebrews 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
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Chain-Reference Bible SearchCross References with Concordance

Dt 5:5; 18:18; 34:10. Mt 17:5. Lk 9:35; 10:16; 24:19. Jn 1:45; 6:29. Ac 3:22; 7:37. 1Ti 2:5. He 1:1, 2; 2:1; 3:2. 1Jn 3:23.

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