Charmers and Charming

How Nave’s arranged it

• General scriptures concerningIsaiah 19:3Jeremiah 8:17
• ProhibitedDeuteronomy 18:11
• Of serpentsPsalms 58:4Psalms 58:5Jeremiah 8:17
• See Sorcery

The passages, in Bible order (5)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 5 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Deuteronomy 18:11

   casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 18:112 voices

   “A charmer - i. e., one who fascinates and subdues noxious animals or men, such as the famous serpent-charmers of the East Psa 58:4-5. A consulter with familiar spirits ... a wizard - Compare Lev 19:31 note. Recromancer - literally, “one who interrogates the dead.” The purpose of the text is obviously to group together all the known words belonging to the practices in question. Compare 2Ch 33:6.

   “Or, a fortune-teller, that foretelleth the events of men's lives by the conjunctions of the stars. Spirits - Whom they call upon by certain words or rites. A wizard - Hebrew. a knowing man, who by any forbidden way's undertakes the Revelation of secret things.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 18:11→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Psalms 58:4

   Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,

   ›Commentary on Psalms 58:42 voices

   “Their poison is like the poison of a serpent. Is man also a poisonous reptile? Yes, and his venom is even as that of a serpent. The viper has but death for the body in his fangs; but unregenerate man carries poison under his tongue, destructive to the nobler nature. They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear.

   “We hide away our sin, cloaking it over in the depth of our soul, like some festering and malignant disease, as if by escaping human notice we could escape the mighty eye of God and justice. Or else we make excuses for our sins by devising pleas in defense of our falls or by tightly closing our ears. Like the snake that stops its ears, we are obstinate in refusing to hear the voice of the charmer and be treated with the medicines of wisdom, by which spiritual sickness is healed.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 58:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Psalms 58:5

   refusing to hear the tune of the charmer who skillfully weaves his spell.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 58:52 voices

   “Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Ungodly men are not to be won to right by arguments the most logical, or appeals the most pathetic. Try all your arts, ye preachers of the word! Lay yourselves out to meet the prejudices and tastes of sinners, and ye shall yet have to cry, "Who hath believed our report?" It is not in your music, but in the sinner's ear that the cause of failure lies, and it is only the power of God that can remove it.

   “Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers,.... Or "that use enchantments", to enchant serpents, by muttering certain words, or by magical songs; by which means it is said that they have been drawn out of their holes, or caused to fly, or have become stupefied, and have lost their poison, and even burst asunder; as Bochart (b) relates from Pliny, Aelianus, Lucan, Isidore, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, and others: but an "asp" is unmoved by enchantments, and they are of no avail against its bites and poison (c).

   Everything gathered on Psalms 58:5→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Isaiah 19:3

   Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 19:31 voice

   “And the spirit of Egypt - (see Isa 19:1). They shall be exhausted with their long internal contentions and strifes; and seeing no prospect of deliverance, and anxious that the turmoils should end, they shall seek counsel and refuge in their gods and necromancers, but in vain. Shall fail - (נבקה nâbeqâh). Margin, ‘Be emptied.’ The word means, literally, “to pour out, empty, depopulate.” Here it means that they would become disheartened and discouraged.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 19:3→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Jeremiah 8:17

   “For behold, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 8:172 voices

   “I--Jehovah. cockatrices--basilisks (Isa 11:8), that is, enemies whose destructive power no means, by persuasion or otherwise, can counteract. Serpent-charmers in the East entice serpents by music, and by a particular pressure on the neck render them incapable of darting (Ps 58:4, 5).

   “I will send - Or, am sending. No prophet changes his metaphors so suddenly as Jeremiah. The invading army is now compared to snakes, whom no charming can soothe, and whose bite is fatal. Compare Num 21:5-6. Cockatrices - “Vipers.” See Isa 11:8 note.

   Everything gathered on Jeremiah 8:17→

   Verse page →Original language →