Witchcraft

How Nave’s arranged it

• Law concerningExodus 22:18Leviticus 19:31Leviticus 20:6Leviticus 20:27
• The Witch of Endor1 Samuel 28:7–25
• Witches destroyed1 Samuel 28:31 Samuel 28:9
• See Sorcery

The passages, in Bible order (7)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 7 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Exodus 22:18

   You must not allow a sorceress to live.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 22:182 voices

   “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.

   “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live - If there had been no witches, such a law as this had never been made. The existence of the law, given under the direction of the Spirit of God, proves the existence of the thing. It has been doubted whether מכשפה mecash-shephah, which we translate witch, really means a person who practiced divination or sorcery by spiritual or infernal agency.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 22:18→

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2. Leviticus 19:31

   You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 19:312 voices

   “Regard not them that have familiar spirits--The Hebrew word, rendered "familiar spirit," signifies the belly, and sometimes a leathern bottle, from its similarity to the belly. It was applied in the sense of this passage to ventriloquists, who pretended to have communication with the invisible world.

   “Regard not them that have familiar spirits,....

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3. Leviticus 20:6

   Whoever turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute himself with them, I will also set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 20:62 voices

   “The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits,....

   “Those do so who turn after those that deal in the black art, and know the depths of Satan. This is spiritual adultery as much as idolatry is, giving that honour to the devil which is due to God only; and the jealous God will give a bill of divorce to those that thus go a whoring from him, and will cut them off, they having first cut themselves off from him.

   Everything gathered on Leviticus 20:6→

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4. Leviticus 20:27

   A man or a woman who is a medium or spiritist must surely be put to death. They shall be stoned; their blood is upon them.’”

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 20:272 voices

   “A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit,....

   “A familiar spirit - A spirit or demon, which, by magical rites, is supposed to be bound to appear at the call of his employer. See the notes on Gen 41:8; Exo 7:11 (note), Exo 7:22 (note), Exo 7:25 (note); and Lev 19:31 (note). From the accounts we have of the abominations both of Egypt and Canaan, we may blush for human nature; for wherever it is without cultivation, and without the revelation of God, it is every thing that is vile in principle and detestable in practice.

   Everything gathered on Leviticus 20:27→

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5. 1 Samuel 28:3

   Now by this time Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 28:32 voices

   “It does not appear when Saul had suppressed witchcraft; it was probably in the early part of his reign. Familiar spirits ... wizards - i. e. ventriloquists ... wise or cunning men. See Lev 19:31 note.

   “Now Samuel is dead, &c.--This event is here alluded to as affording an explanation of the secret and improper methods by which Saul sought information and direction in the present crisis of his affairs.

   Everything gathered on 1 Samuel 28:3→

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6. 1 Samuel 28:7–25

   Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I can go and consult her.” “There is a medium at Endor,” his servants replied.

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 28:7–252 voices

   “He knew the heinousness of the sin of witchcraft, else he would not have cut off those that had familiar spirits; yet now he had recourse to that as an oracle which he had before condemned as an abomination. It is common for men to inveigh severely against those sins which they are in no temptation to, but afterwards to be themselves overcome by them.

   “And his servants said to her, etc. Correctly it is narrated that the woman with a familiar spirit, whom some call a ventriloquist, lived in Endor, which means in the fountain or eye of generation, so that the very place of her habitation bears witness …

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7. 1 Samuel 28:9

   But the woman replied, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has killed the mediums and spiritists in the land. Why have you set a trap to get me killed?”

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 28:92 voices

   “On the other hand, many eminent writers (considering that the apparition came before her arts were put in practice; that she herself was surprised and alarmed; that the prediction of Saul's own death and the defeat of his forces was confidently made), are of opinion that Samuel really appeared.

   “And the woman said unto him,....

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