Sorcery

How Nave’s arranged it

• (Divination by an alleged assistance of evil spirits)
• ForbiddenLeviticus 19:26–28Leviticus 19:31Leviticus 20:6Deuteronomy 18:9–14
• DenouncedIsaiah 8:19Malachi 3:5
• Practiced
• By the EgyptiansIsaiah 19:3Isaiah 19:11Isaiah 19:12
• By the magiciansExodus 7:11Exodus 7:22Exodus 8:7Exodus 8:18
• By Balaam with 22; 23Numbers 22:6Numbers 23:23
• By Jezebel2 Kings 9:22
• By the NinevitesNahum 3:4Nahum 3:5
• By the BabyloniansIsaiah 47:9–13Ezekiel 21:21Ezekiel 21:22Daniel 2:2Daniel 2:10Daniel 2:27
• By BelshazzarDaniel 5:7Daniel 5:15
• By Simon the Sorcerer (Magus)Acts 8:9Acts 11

The passages, in Bible order (63)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Exodus 7:11

   But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same things by their magic arts.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 7:112 voices

   “Moses had been originally instructed in the learning of the Egyptians, and was suspected to have improved in magical arts in his long retirement. The magicians are therefore sent for to vie with him.

   “Three names for the magicians of Egypt are given in this verse. The “wise men” are men who know occult arts. The “sorcerers” are they who “mutter magic formulae,” especially when driving away crocodiles, snakes, asps, etc. It was natural that Pharaoh should have sent for such persons. The “magicians” are the “bearers of sacred words,” scribes and interpreters of hieroglyphic writings.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 7:11→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Exodus 7:22

   But the magicians of Egypt did the same things by their magic arts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 7:222 voices

   “And the magicians did so - By God's permission with their enchantments; and this served Pharaoh for an excuse not to set his heart to this also, (ver. 23,) and a poor excuse it was. Could they have turned the river of blood into water again, it had been something; then they had proved their power, and Pharaoh had been obliged to them as his benefactors.

   “And the magicians - did so - But if all the water in Egypt was turned into blood by Moses, where did the magicians get the water which they changed into blood? This question is answered in Exo 7:24. The Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink, and it seems that the water obtained by this means was not bloody like that in the river: on this water therefore the magicians might operate.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 7:22→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Exodus 8:7

   But the magicians did the same thing by their magic arts, and they also brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 8:72 voices

   “The magicians would seem to have been able to increase the plague, but not to remove it; hence, Pharaoh’s application to Moses, the first symptoms of yielding.

   “They also brought up frogs, but could not remove those that God sent. The unclean spirits which came out of the mouth of the dragon are said to be like frogs, which go forth to the kings of the earth, to deceive them ( Rev. xvi. 13 ), which probably alludes to these frogs, for it follows the account of the turning of the waters into blood.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 8:7→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Exodus 8:18

   The magicians tried to produce gnats using their magic arts, but they could not. And the gnats remained on man and beast.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 8:181 voice

   “The magicians did so - That is, They tried the utmost of their skill, either to produce these insects or to remove this plague; but they could not, no juggling could avail here, because insects must be produced which would stick to and infix themselves in man and beast, which no kind of trick could possibly imitate; and to remove them, as some would translate the passage, was to their power equally impossible.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 8:18→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Exodus 22:18

   You must not allow a sorceress to live.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 22:181 voice

   “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→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Leviticus 19:26–28

   You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 19:26–282 voices

   “Neither shall ye use enchantment - לא תנחשו lo thenachashu. Conjecture itself can do little towards a proper explanation of the terms used in this verse. נחש nachash; See note at Gen 3:1 (note), we translate serpent, and with very little propriety; but though the word may not signify a serpent in that place, it has that signification in others. Possibly, therefore, the superstition here prohibited may be what the Greeks called Ophiomanteia, or divination by serpents.

   “Eating upon the blood, as the Gentiles did, who gathered the blood of their sacrifices into a vessel for their demons (as they fancied) to drink, and then sat about it, eating the flesh themselves, signifying their communion with devils by their feasting with them.

   Everything gathered on Leviticus 19:26–28→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. 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.

   Verse page →Original language →

8. 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 20:61 voice

   “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→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. 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 20:271 voice

   “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→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Numbers 22:6

    So please come now and put a curse on this people, because they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land; for I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed.”

    ›Commentary on Numbers 22:61 voice

    “Come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people - Balaam, once a prophet of the true God, appears to have been one of the Moshelim, (see Num 21:27), who had added to his poetic gift that of sorcery or divination. It was supposed that prophets and sorcerers had a power to curse persons and places so as to confound all their designs, frustrate their counsels, enervate their strength, and fill them with fear, terror, and dismay. See Gen 9:25; Psa 109:6, Psa 109:20; Jos 6:26; Jer 17:5, Jer 17:

    Everything gathered on Numbers 22:6→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Numbers 23:23

    For there is no spell against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What great things God has done!’

    ›Commentary on Numbers 23:231 voice

    “Enchantment ... divination - More strictly “augury” and “soothsayer’s token,” or the omen that was superstitiously observed. “Soothsayer” is the term applied to Balaam in Jos 13:22. The verse intimates that the seer was at last, through the overruling of his own auguries, compelled to own what, had he not been blinded by avarice and ambition, he would have discerned before - that there Was an indisputable interference of God on Israel’s behalf, against which all arts and efforts of man must prove vain.

    Everything gathered on Numbers 23:23→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Deuteronomy 13:5

    Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.

    ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 13:51 voice

    “The context and parallel passages (compare Deu 17:7; Lev 20:2) indicate that there was to be a regular judicial procedure, and that the manner of the execution was to be by stoning. In this the community was to take its part in order to show its horror at the crime, and to clear itself of complicity therein.

    Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 13:5→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Deuteronomy 18:9–14

    When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.

    Verse page →Original language →

14. 1 Samuel 15:23

    For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”

    ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 15:232 voices

    “He probably did 99 percent of what he was told to do. Yet God called his nearly complete obedience—rebellion (1 Sam. 15:23)!

    “Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord--Saul was either blinded by a partial and delusive self-love, or he was, in his declaration to Samuel, acting the part of a bold and artful hypocrite. He professed to have fulfilled the divine command, and that the blame of any defects in the execution lay with the people.

    Everything gathered on 1 Samuel 15:23→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. 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

    “Enquire - A different word from that in 1Sa 28:6, though nearly synonymous with it. It is more frequently applied to inquiry of a false god, as e. g. 2Ki 1:2; Isa 8:19; Isa 19:3. En-dor (see Jos 11:2 note) was seven or eight miles from the slopes of Gilboa, on the north of little Hermon, where the Philistines were encamped; so that Saul must have run great risks in going there.

    “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.

    Everything gathered on 1 Samuel 28:7–25→

    Verse page →Original language →

16. 2 Kings 9:22

    When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”

    ›Commentary on 2 Kings 9:222 voices

    “A report was made to Joram in his palace below. A messenger on horseback was quickly despatched down into the plain to meet the ambiguous host and to question the object of their approach. "Is it peace?" We may safely assume that this messenger would meet Jehu at the distance of three miles or more.

    “He mentions not Joram's, but his mother's sins; because they were more notorious and infamous: and because they were the principal cause why God inflicted, and he was come to execute these judgments. The way of sin can never be the way of peace.

    Everything gathered on 2 Kings 9:22→

    Verse page →Original language →