16 “On the day that you were gathered at Mount Sinai, you begged not to hear the Lord speak again or to see his fiery presence any more, because you were afraid you would die.
17 So the Lord said to me, ‘They have made a wise request.
18 I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will tell him what to say, and he will tell the people everything I command.
19 He will speak in my name, and I will punish anyone who refuses to obey him.
20 But if any prophet dares to speak a message in my name when I did not command him to do so, he must die for it, and so must any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods.’
21 “You may wonder how you can tell when a prophet's message does not come from the Lord.
22 If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and what he says does not come true, then it is not the Lord's message. That prophet has spoken on his own authority, and you are not to fear him.