Deuteronomy 18:21

That if thou answerest by privy thought, How may I understand the word, which the Lord spake not? (And if thou ask within thyselves, How can we know that the Lord did not speak this word?)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

In The King James Version

And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

In Context

20Soothly a prophet shall be slain, which is depraved with pride, and will speak in my name those things, which I commanded not to him, that he should say, either by the name of alien gods. (And the prophet who is depraved with pride, and shall speak in my name those things, which I did not command him to say, or shall speak in the name of foreign, or other, gods, that prophet must be put to death.)

22thou shalt have this sign, or token, ( to know a false prophet from a true prophet), if that that that prophet saith before in the name of the Lord, cometh not, the Lord spake it not, but he feigned it through (the) pride of his soul, and therefore thou shalt not dread him. (thou shalt have this sign, to know a false prophet from a true prophet; If what that prophet saith beforehand in the name of the Lord, cometh not, then the Lord did not speak it, but the false prophet feigned his prophecy through the pride of his soul, and so thou shalt not fear him.)

Read all of Deuteronomy 18

Cross References

1 Samuel 3:20And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew, that faithful Samuel was a prophet of the Lord. (And all Israel knew, from Dan to Beersheba, that truly Samuel was a prophet of the Lord.)

Zechariah 2:13Each flesh be still from the face of the Lord, for he rose of his holy dwelling place. (Each person be still before the face of the Lord, for he hath risen up from his holy dwelling place.)

1 John 4:1Most dear brethren, do not ye believe to each spirit, but prove ye the spirits, if they be of God, (or Most dear brothers, do not believe every spirit, but rather, test the spirits, to see if they be from God); for many false prophets went out into the world.

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 18:16-22

The Great Prophet; False Prophets. ( b. c. 1451.) 15 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; 16 According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17 And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a Prophet… Read the whole commentary →

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