The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
A Prophet Like Moses
Deuteronomy 18:15–22 — A Prophet Like Moses. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
15The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā yā·qîm lə·ḵā nā·ḇî kā·mō·nî miq·qir·bə·ḵā mê·’a·ḥe·ḵā tiš·mā·‘ūn ’ê·lāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
A prophet from-your-midst, from-your-brothers, like-me, will-raise-up for-you Yahweh your-God; to-him you-shall-listen.
Where the English smooths the original
The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet. —Namely, Him of whom St. Peter spoke in Acts 3:22-26 . “Unto you first God, having raised up His son Jesus, sent Him to bless you.” It must not be forgotten that the prophetic office is still continued to our risen Lord. He still “speaketh from heaven.”Ellicott titles the whole paragraph "THE ONE MEDIATOR" and reads the prophet as the risen Christ, still prophesying "from heaven."
it is perfectly evident from this simple connection alone, apart from the further context of the passage, in which Moses treats of the temporal and spiritual rulers of Israel (ch. 17 and 18), that the promise neither relates to one particular prophet, nor directly and exclusively to the Messiah, but treats of the sending of prophets generally.The strongest PD statement of the "succession" reading; K&D nonetheless concludes Christ is "to be included" as the culmination.
The prediction, however, must of necessity be primarily interpreted of the Messiah. 1st, Because the text speaks of one prophet only, in the singular number, and not of many.
A prophet from the midst [ of thee ] of thy brethren like unto me shall the LORD thy God raise up to thee ] Such is the emphatic order of the original, missed by EVV.Cambridge preserves the Hebrew word-order and closes by quoting Calvin against the "Christ alone" reading.
but they are chiefly to be understood of Christ, as the following words show, which do not truly and fully agree to any other; particularly where he is said to be like unto Moses, which is simply denied concerning all other prophets, Deu 34:10 , and therefore it is not probable that it should be simply affirmed concerning all true prophets succeeding him.Poole grants the secondary "succession" sense but presses the grammar the other way: because Deut 34:10 flatly denies that any prophet was "like unto Moses," the phrase cannot be simply affirmed of the whole prophetic order — it points beyond them to Christ. The cleanest PD statement of the verse's internal logic.
16This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kə·ḵōl ’ă·šer- šā·’al·tā mê·‘im Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā bə·ḥō·rêḇ bə·yō·wm haq·qā·hāl lê·mōr lō ’ō·sêp̄ liš·mō·a‘ ’eṯ- qō·wl Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hāy wə·’eṯ- ’er·’eh lō- haz·zōṯ hag·gə·ḏō·lāh hā·’êš ‘ō·wḏ wə·lō ’ā·mūṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
According-to-all that you-asked from-with Yahweh your-God at-Horeb on-the-day-of the-assembly, saying: Let-me-not continue to-hear the-voice-of Yahweh my-God, and-this great fire let-me-not see again, so-that I-not die.
Where the English smooths the original
which was such a voice of words, attended with so much terror, that they that heard entreated the word might not be spoken to them any more, as the apostle says in Hebrews 12:19 , neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not; out of which the Lord spoke; the congregation of Israel is here represented speaking as if a single person.Gill catches the grammatical slide into the singular and links it to the Sinai terror of Hebrews 12:19.
With this assurance the Lord had fully granted the request of the people, "according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God;" and Israel, therefore, was all the more bound to hearken to the prophets, whom God would raise up from the midst of itself, and not to resort to heathen soothsayers.
In the day of the assembly, to wit, of that great and general congregation of all the people together.Poole identifies "the day of the assembly" as the whole-nation gathering at Horeb/Sinai.
17Then the LORD said to me, “They have spoken well.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh way·yō·mer ’ê·lāy dib·bê·rū hê·ṭî·ḇū ’ă·šer
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said Yahweh to-me: They-have-done-well in-what they-have-spoken.
Where the English smooths the original
And the Lord said unto me,.... Unto Moses, who carried the above request to the Lord: they have well spoken that which they have spoken; see Deuteronomy 5:28 .
And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.The Geneva note here simply re-states the verse; its 1599 marginal apparatus elsewhere reads the prophet as "a continual succession... till Christ."
18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ā·qîm lā·hem nā·ḇî kā·mō·w·ḵā miq·qe·reḇ ’ă·ḥê·hem wə·nā·ṯat·tî ḏə·ḇā·ray bə·p̄îw wə·ḏib·ber ’ă·lê·hem ’êṯ kāl- ’ă·šer ’ă·ṣaw·wen·nū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
A prophet I-will-raise-up for-them from-the-midst-of their-brothers, like-you; and-I-will-put my-words in-his-mouth, and-he-will-speak to-them all that I-command-him.
Where the English smooths the original
and will put my word in his mouth; the doctrines of the Gospel, which come from God, and are the words of truth, faith, righteousness, peace, pardon, life, and salvation; and which Christ says were not his own, as man and Mediator, but his Father's, which he gave unto him, and put into his mouth, as what he should say, teach, and deliver to others; see John 7:16 .
It is possible also, as Oryon Gerlach has suggested, that "Prophet" here may be used as " seed" is in Genesis 3:15 , and that this is a prediction of Christ as the True Prophet, just as the assurance to Eve was a prediction of the MessiahThe Pulpit Commentary reads the singular "prophet" as a collective-culminating-in-one, on the analogy of the singular "seed" of Genesis 3:15.
A promise not only made to Christ, but to all that teach in his name, Isa 59:21.The Geneva marginal gloss (h) on "mouth"; it widens the promise to all faithful teachers, anchored in Isaiah 59:21.
19And I will hold accountable anyone who does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hā·yāh ’ā·nō·ḵî ’eḏ·rōš mê·‘im·mōw hā·’îš ’ă·šer lō- yiš·ma‘ ’el- də·ḇā·ray ’ă·šer yə·ḏab·bêr biš·mî
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-shall-be, the man who will-not-listen to-my-words that he-speaks in-my-name — I-myself will-require-(it) of-him.
Where the English smooths the original
I will require it of him; or, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,"my Word shall require it of him, or take vengeance on him;''as Christ the Word of God did in the destruction of the Jewish nation, city, and temple; see Luke 19:27 .
whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him—The direful consequences of unbelief in Christ, and disregard of His mission, the Jewish people have been experiencing during eighteen hundred years.
whosoever will not hearken … I will require it of him ] Cp. the confidence of Jeremiah 26:12-15 ; Jeremiah 29:8 f., Jeremiah 29:18 ff. (the punishment exacted for not hearkening to God’s word)Cambridge anchors "require" (darash) in the prophetic literature and notes the Samaritan/LXX variant "his words" for "my words."
20But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’aḵ han·nā·ḇî ’ă·šer yā·zîḏ lə·ḏab·bêr dā·ḇār biš·mî ’êṯ ’ă·šer lō- ṣiw·wî·ṯîw lə·ḏab·bêr wa·’ă·šer yə·ḏab·bêr bə·šêm ’ă·ḥê·rîm ’ĕ·lō·hîm ha·hū han·nā·ḇî ū·mêṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
But the-prophet who presumes to-speak a-word in-my-name that I-have-not commanded-him to-speak, or-who speaks in-the-name-of other gods — that prophet shall-die.
Where the English smooths the original
But the prophet which shall presume to speak in my name,.... Pretending a mission and commission from God, and yet was never sent by him, like the prophets in Jeremiah 23:21 , which I have not commanded him to speak
These special cases prove that throughout this passage no single prophet but a succession of prophets is meant.Cambridge presses the false-prophet clause as evidence the unit envisions a class, not one man — the counterweight to the Messianic reading.
If, however, a prophet should presume to speak in the Name of the Lord what the Lord had not commanded him to speak, or if he should speak in the name of other gods, not only was no regard to be paid to his words, but he was himself to be treated as a blasphemer, and to be put to death.
21You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḵî ṯō·mar bil·ḇā·ḇe·ḵā ’ê·ḵāh nê·ḏa‘ ’eṯ- had·dā·ḇār ’ă·šer Yah·weh lō- ḏib·bə·rōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-if you-say in-your-heart: "How shall-we-know the-word that Yahweh has-not spoken?"
Where the English smooths the original
The passage evidently assumes such an occasion for consulting the prophet as was usual among the pagan, e. g., an impending battle or other such crisis (compare 1 Kings 22:11 ), in which his veracity would soon be put to the test.
Such a thought arises in the mind, and it appears to be a difficulty, and a query is made upon it: how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? What marks, signs, and criterions are those by which it may be known that it is not a word that comes from the Lord?
The test by which it was to be discovered which was the true prophet and which the false, was the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of his prediction.From the Pulpit Commentary's joint note on vv. 21-22; it identifies the coming criterion as proximate, verifiable fulfilment.
22When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ă·šer han·nā·ḇî yə·ḏab·bêr bə·šêm Yah·weh had·dā·ḇār wə·lō- yih·yeh wə·lō yā·ḇō·w hū had·dā·ḇār ’ă·šer Yah·weh lō ḏib·bə·rōw han·nā·ḇî dib·bə·rōw bə·zā·ḏō·wn lō- ṯā·ḡūr mim·men·nū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
When the-prophet speaks in-the-name-of Yahweh and-the-word does-not come-to-be or-come — that is the-word Yahweh has-not spoken; in-presumption the-prophet spoke-it. You-shall-not be-afraid of-him.
Where the English smooths the original
This is one form of our Lord’s test for all prophets, “ By their fruits ( i.e., the ‘results,’ of their teaching, not its first impressions) ye shall know them.”Ellicott reads Deuteronomy's fulfilment-test as the Old-Testament form of Jesus' "by their fruits ye shall know them" (Matt 7:16).
a man that pretended to work a miracle, or predict a future event, in confirmation of a message said to be received from Jehovah, or from some other god, and who failed in the performance of the miracle, or the thing foretold not coming to pass, evidently proved himself to be an impostor.
The two most spiritual of the prophets staked their credit as the bearers of God’s word on certain historical issues.Cambridge (S. R. Driver's series) presses the honesty point: even Isaiah and Jeremiah "staked their credit" on verifiable historical outcomes, and Jer 28 shows the test in action.
By this injunction the occurrence of what had been predicted is made the criterion of true prophecy, and not signs and wonders, which false prophets could also perform (cf. Deuteronomy 13:2 .).
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit answers the prohibition just before it (vv. 9-14: no diviners, no necromancers, no soothsayers). Where the nations seek the future through the dead and the occult, Israel is given a living voice. The Hebrew makes the contrast structural: nāḇî, "a prophet," stands at the very head of the sentence, before even the divine name — what the Cambridge Bible calls "the emphatic order of the original, missed by EVV." The Pulpit Commentary grounds the word itself: the primary concept is "that of announcer, or forth-speaker," and "the prophet is one who speaks in the place of God." So the promise is not merely of information but of mediation: God will keep speaking, from within Israel ("from your midst, from your brothers"), and the people are to "hear-and-obey" him (tiš·mā·‘ūn, with its solemn paragogic nun).
Everything turns on kā·mō·nî / kā·mō·w·ḵā — "like me," "like you." Two PD streams diverge here, and the apparatus keeps both honest. Joseph Benson and Matthew Poole argue the prophecy "must of necessity be primarily interpreted of the Messiah," "Because the text speaks of one prophet only, in the singular number." Keil & Delitzsch press the opposite from the same grammar: "it is not one prophet only, nor the Messiah exclusively, who is promised here," but "the sending of prophets generally." The Cambridge Bible closes by quoting Calvin against the "Christ alone" reading. The mediating view — held by the Pulpit Commentary, Barnes, and ultimately K&D themselves — is that "Prophet" works like the singular "seed" of Genesis 3:15: a succession culminating in one. The likeness is in office (mediating God's word), which is why v. 18 immediately defines it: "I will put my words in his mouth."
Verse 18 supplies the test of authenticity before the test of v. 22: the true prophet speaks not his own word but God's — "I will give (nāṯan) my words in his mouth (peh)." This is the exact idiom of Jeremiah's call ("I have put my words in thy mouth," Jer 1:9), and Gill hears it fulfilled in Christ, whose words "were not his own... but his Father's, which he gave unto him, and put into his mouth." The Geneva margin widens it to "all that teach in his name." Verse 19 then arms the promise with sanction: the emphatic "I myself" (’ā·nō·ḵî) "will require it" (dāraš, "seek out, demand") of whoever will not listen. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown reads the threat soberly as the historic cost of "unbelief in Christ."
Against the true prophet stands the one who "presumes" (yāzîḏ, "boils over" with arrogance) to speak an uncommanded word in Yahweh's name, or any word in the name of "other gods." The two are bracketed under one penalty — "that prophet shall die" — which Keil & Delitzsch note lands as a stark apodosis (ū·mêṯ, "and-dead"). Gill supplies the pagan foils (prophesying "by Baal," Jer 2:8) and the rabbinic debate over the mode of death. The Cambridge Bible takes the very existence of this clause as proof the unit envisions a class of prophets, not one man — the structural counterweight to the Messianic reading of movement ii.
God answers the honest heart-question ("How shall we know?") with a public, falsifiable criterion: the word that does not "come to be" or "come" is the word Yahweh did not speak. Keil & Delitzsch: "the occurrence of what had been predicted is made the criterion of true prophecy, and not signs and wonders, which false prophets could also perform." Barnes and the Pulpit Commentary stress that the test is of proximate events whose outcome "would soon be put to the test." The Cambridge Bible presses the honesty of this — Isaiah and Jeremiah "staked their credit... on certain historical issues" (Jer 28) — while frankly noting that conditional prophecies (Jonah 4; Jer 18) could go unfulfilled by design. Ellicott hears the New-Testament echo: "By their fruits ye shall know them."
Read under Sola Scriptura, this passage is the Bible's own charter for testing every claimed word from God — including the claims of this very apparatus. Moses sets two non-negotiable marks of a true word: it is given, not invented ("I will put my words in his mouth," v. 18), and it is verifiable, not self-certifying ("if the thing does not come to pass," v. 22). The Christian church has, with near-unanimous PD consent, read the singular "prophet like me" as culminating in Christ — the New Testament itself does so on the lips of Peter (Acts 3:22), Stephen (Acts 7:37), and Jesus (John 5:46), and the Father's "hear ye Him" at the Transfiguration deliberately re-speaks v. 15's "to him you shall listen." Yet the same Scripture forbids us to flatten the text: the immediate context (vv. 20-22) plainly legislates for a recurring office, and Calvin, K&D, and the Cambridge Bible are right that "Christ alone" over-reads the grammar. The faithful reading holds both: a succession of true prophets, each speaking only the given word, with One at its head and end in whom alone "like me" is finally inadequate — because He is greater. My own fallible synthesis: the genius of this law is that it makes faith checkable. It refuses the unfalsifiable. That same refusal must govern how you read these notes — test them against the Word, and where they fail to come to pass, do not be afraid of them.
The same law that promises a Prophet to hear also hands you the tools to disbelieve a false one — including, if it fails the test, this very note. (An interpretive line from the synthesis layer, not a verse of Scripture.)
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
Deuteronomy frames its own prophet-promise: 18:15 says God will "raise up" (qûm) "a prophet" (nāḇî) "like me," and 34:10 — the book's closing epitaph — declares "there has not arisen a prophet (nāḇî) since in Israel like unto Moses." The two share the very lexemes of the promise: nāḇî (H5030) and qûm (H6965). The link is structural, not a quotation: 34:10 is the measuring-rod the apparatus uses to argue (with Benson, Poole, JFB) that no ordinary successor exhausts "like me," pressing the promise toward the Messiah.
Deuteronomy 18:15 · Deuteronomy 34:10
basis: shared lexemes H5030 nâbîyʼ (288 vv) and H6965 qûwm (596 vv) — Verifier-computed; a within-Deuteronomy frame, not a quotation, so structural rather than verbal.
God's definition of the true prophet in 18:18 — "I will put (nāṯan) my words in his mouth (peh)" — is the same idiom by which He commissions Jeremiah: "Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth" (Jer 1:9). Both verses pair nāṯan (H5414, "give/put") with peh (H6310, "mouth"). The Cambridge note on v. 18 already cross-references Jer 1:9; 5:14. Because these are common words, the Verifier rightly tiers the link structural/thematic, not verbal — but the shared formula (words-given-in-the-mouth) is the recognizable signature of prophetic inspiration across the canon.
Deuteronomy 18:18 · Jeremiah 1:9
basis: shared lexemes H6310 peh (459 vv) and H5414 nâthan (1817 vv) — Verifier-computed. Both high-frequency words, so the basis is the shared idiom/formula, not a rare lexeme; tiered structural, not verbal.
Deuteronomy 18:16 recalls Israel's plea at Horeb almost verbatim from 5:25: "if we hear the voice (qôl) of the LORD our God any more (‘ôd), we shall die... this great fire (’ēš) will consume us." The Verifier finds a dense cluster of shared lexemes — yāsap̄ (H3254, "add/continue"), ’ēš (H784, "fire"), qôl (H6963, "voice"), ‘ôd (H5750, "again") — confirming this is the same speech re-cited. Gill and the Cambridge Bible both treat v. 16 as a deliberate echo of chapter 5. The link is structural (an internal cross-reference to the same event), and it grounds the whole rationale for a mediating prophet: unmediated holiness is lethal.
Deuteronomy 18:16 · Deuteronomy 5:25
basis: shared lexemes H3254 yâçaph, H784 ʼêsh, H6963 qôwl, H5750 ʻôwd (all Verifier-computed) — a dense same-event cluster; cited as a near-verbatim internal self-quotation, but tiered structural since it is narrative re-citation, not a quotation-claim.
The criterion of 18:22 — the word that does not "come to pass" exposes the false nāḇî — is the standard Jeremiah himself invokes in his showdown with the false prophet Hananiah: "the prophet (nāḇî) which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him" (Jer 28:9). The shared lexeme is nāḇî (H5030). The Cambridge Bible explicitly cites Jer 28:9 as the converse statement of Deut 18:22, and Ellicott (on v. 20) records the same case from Rashi: Hananiah "who prophesied that Jeconiah... should return within two years" was "sentenced by Jeremiah to die that year; and he died accordingly" — the death-sentence of v. 20 enacted on a prophet caught by the test of v. 22. Structural/thematic, not a quotation: Jeremiah applies the Deuteronomic law rather than citing it.
Deuteronomy 18:22 · Jeremiah 28:9
basis: shared lexeme H5030 nâbîyʼ (288 vv) — Verifier-computed. Jeremiah applies (does not quote) the Deut 18 fulfilment test; tiered structural/thematic.
Within the unit the false prophet "presumes" (yāzîḏ, v. 20, from zûḏ H2102) and speaks "in presumption" (bə·zā·ḏôn, v. 22, the cognate noun zādôn H2087) — verb and noun of the same root bracketing the counterfeit on either side. The rare-lexeme tie runs through v. 22: zādôn occurs in only 11 verses, and the Verifier confirms it shared with 1 Sam 17:28 (David rebuked for "presumption"), Jer 50:31 (Babylon as "the proud one"), and — pointedly — with Deuteronomy's own death-law for the man who "acts presumptuously" before priest or judge (Deut 17:12). On the rare lexeme the Verifier returns the link verbal/quotation; honestly, though, none of these is a quotation of Deuteronomy — they independently draw on the canon's vocabulary of swelling pride — so the editorial tier is structural/thematic on a rare shared word, not a verbal quotation. The point stands: false prophecy is classed with the arrogance God brings down.
Deuteronomy 18:20 · Deuteronomy 18:22 · Deuteronomy 17:12 · 1 Samuel 17:28 · Jeremiah 50:31
basis: rare H2087 zâdôwn (only 11 vv) is carried by v. 22 and shared with Deut 17:12, 1 Sam 17:28, Jer 50:31 (Verifier-computed); v. 20's <i>yāzîḏ</i> (zûḏ, H2102) is the cognate verb of the same root within the unit. Verifier mechanically tiers the rare-lexeme link verbal; DOWNGRADED here to structural/thematic because these are independent uses of the proud-word family, not quotations of Deuteronomy.
Hebrews 12:25 reads Deut 18:19 (and the Sinai scene of v. 16) directly: "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." Ellicott places this very text beside Deut 18:19 in his note. This is a cross-Testament link (Greek New Testament ↔ Hebrew Deuteronomy), so it cannot rest on a shared Strong's number — the Verifier's lexeme method does not span languages. It is tiered structural/thematic on the strength of the shared motif (the inescapable accountability for refusing God's mediated word) and Ellicott's explicit juxtaposition, not on any claimed verbal quotation.
Deuteronomy 18:19 · Hebrews 12:25
basis: cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): no shared Strong's possible, so not "verbal." Tiered structural on the shared motif of accountability for refusing the mediated word, and on Ellicott's explicit pairing of Heb 12:25 with Deut 18:19.
Acts 3:22-23 (Peter) and Acts 7:37 (Stephen) both quote Deut 18:15/18-19 and apply it to Jesus — the New Testament's own Messianic reading, affirmed across the PD apparatus (JFB, Benson, Poole, Gill, K&D). The quotation is real, but its exact wording is contested at the source: the Cambridge note on v. 19 records that "LXX B omits my words; Sam. LXX most codd. his words," and Acts 3:23 fuses Deut 18:19 with Lev 23:29 ("shall be destroyed from among the people") — language not in the Deuteronomy text itself. Because this is a cross-Testament citation whose textual base diverges from the Masoretic Hebrew, it is flagged for source-verification rather than asserted as a clean verbal quotation.
Deuteronomy 18:15 · Deuteronomy 18:18 · Deuteronomy 18:19 · Acts 3:22 · Acts 7:37
basis: Acts 3:22-23 / 7:37 quote Deut 18 and apply it to Christ, but the wording draws on LXX (not the Masoretic Hebrew the parse rests on), Acts 3 conflates Deut 18:19 with Lev 23:29, and the textual witnesses split on "my words"/"his words" (Cambridge). Cross-Testament; provenance of the exact quotation is disputed — flagged.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The apostolic church read this promise as fulfilled in Christ, and said so explicitly: Peter (Acts 3:22-26) and Stephen (Acts 7:37) quote "a prophet like me / like you" of Jesus, and Jesus claims Moses "wrote of me" (John 5:46). The whole PD apparatus concurs: Jamieson-Fausset-Brown — "the prophet here promised was pre-eminently the Messiah, for He alone was \"like unto Moses\"" — and the prediction "was expressly applied to Jesus Christ by Peter (Ac 3:22, 23), and by Stephen (Ac 7:37)"; Barnes notes "the Messianic was the accredited interpretation among the Jews at the beginning of the Christian era" (cf. the Samaritan woman, John 4:25). At the Transfiguration the Father's command "hear ye Him" (Matt 17:5) re-speaks v. 15's "to him you shall listen" almost word for word. Attestation: ancient/widely-held — this is the church's consensus reading and the New Testament's own.
Deuteronomy 18:15 · Deuteronomy 18:18 · Acts 3:22 · Acts 7:37 · John 5:46 · Matthew 17:5
The promise contains its own pressure toward Christ. Deuteronomy ends by confessing that no prophet "like Moses" had yet arisen (34:10), and Hebrews makes the comparison the engine of its argument: Moses was "faithful... as a servant," but Christ "as a son over his own house" (Heb 3:5-6). Matthew Henry states it plainly: "He should be like unto Moses, only above him. This prophet is come, even JESUS; and is He that should come, and we are to look for no other." Where Moses received words "in his mouth," the Son is the Word (John 1:1); where Moses' face had to be veiled, the Son is the unveiled glory the people at Horeb could not bear to see. Attestation: ancient/widely-held — the "like-but-greater" reading is patristic and Reformation commonplace, grounded in Hebrews.
Deuteronomy 18:15 · Deuteronomy 34:10 · Hebrews 3:5
Verse 19's sanction — "I myself will require it of him" who will not hear — is read Christologically by Gill through the Targum ("my Word shall require it... take vengeance"), applied to "Christ the Word of God." The same Christ who is the Prophet is also the Judge of those who refuse Him (John 12:48, as Matthew Henry notes: "the same that is the Prophet is to be his Judge"). And v. 22's fulfilment-test finds its New-Testament voice in Jesus' own rule, "by their fruits ye shall know them" (Matt 7:16), as Ellicott observes. Attestation: ancient/widely-held for the Prophet-as-Judge identification (John 12:48); the vengeance-via-the-destruction-of-Jerusalem application (Gill's Targum reading) is a narrower, more interpretive strand and should be held loosely.
Deuteronomy 18:19 · Deuteronomy 18:22 · John 12:48 · Matthew 7:16
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
This unit is monolingual Hebrew; every parse and Strong's number is from the Berean/Strong's base and is not contradicted here. Three honesty notes specific to Deuteronomy 18:15-22:
1. The cross-references to the New Testament are cross-Testament. The decisive fulfilments (Acts 3:22; 7:37; John 5:46; Heb 12:25; Matt 17:5; 7:16) link Greek text to Hebrew text. The Verifier's shared-Strong's method cannot operate across languages, so none of these is tiered "verbal." They are tiered structural/thematic on shared motif and explicit PD juxtaposition, or flagged where the quotation's textual base is disputed.
2. The Acts 3:22-23 citation is flagged, not asserted. Per the Cambridge Bible, the witnesses split on "my words" vs "his words" (LXX B omits "my words"), and Acts 3:23 conflates Deut 18:19 with Leviticus 23:29. The Messianic application is the New Testament's own and is not in doubt; the exact verbal provenance of the quotation is, and is marked accordingly.
3. The central interpretive crux ("like me," v. 15) is genuinely two-sided in the PD record, and the synthesis deliberately holds both. Benson/Poole read it of the Messiah primarily; Keil&Delitzsch, Calvin (via Cambridge), and the false-prophet legislation of vv. 20-22 read it of a prophetic succession. The grand commentary and Sola reading present the "succession culminating in Christ" position as the most defensible synthesis, but this is a fallible ⚙ judgment, not a parse — test it against the text. The within-Hebrew threads (to Deut 34:10; 5:25; Jer 1:9; 28:9; and the zādôn family) rest on Verifier-computed shared lexemes and are the firmer ground.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)