16. God will send you this prophet because that is what you asked him to do. When you were gathered together at Mount Horeb, you became frightened and said, ‘Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God again! Don’t let us see that great fire or we will die!’
17. “The Lord said to me, ‘What they ask for is good.
18. I will send them a prophet like you. This prophet will be one of their own people. I will tell him what he must say, and he will tell the people everything I command.
19. This prophet will speak for me, and I will punish anyone who refuses to listen to my commands.’
20. “But a prophet might say something that I did not tell him to say. And he might tell people that he is speaking for me. If this happens, that prophet must be killed. Also a prophet might come that speaks for other gods. That prophet must also be killed.
21. You might be thinking, ‘How can we know if something a prophet says is not from the Lord?’
22. If a prophet says he is speaking for the Lord, but what he says does not happen, you will know that the Lord did not say it. You will know that this prophet was speaking his own ideas. You don’t need to be afraid of him.