Hebrew noun (masculine) · H178
אוֹב
obobe
medium
17 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: ʼôwb
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H178is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 8 of 39Old Testament books
- 14spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H178
properly, a mumble, i.e. a water skin (from its hollow sound); hence a necromancer (ventriloquist, as from a jar)
The King James renders it: bottle, familiar spirit.
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
ob is rendered "medium". It stands 17 times in the Hebrew text, across eight books.
- Five of the uses stand in 1 Samuel, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Leviticus 19:31You 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.
- The Greek text spells it fourteen different ways.
The first use
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.
Leviticus 19:31הָאֹבֹת֙
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
Five of the word's seventeen uses are in 1 Samuel.
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- the necromancers7
- a necromancer2
- by the necromancy2
- necromancer2
- necromancy2
- like a necromancer1
- like wineskins1
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
The words it stands beside
All 17, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
14 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- א֖וֹב3
- הָאֹב֥וֹת2
- א֛וֹב1
- אוֹב֙1
- א֔וֹב1
- בָּא֔וֹב1
- בָּא֖וֹב1
- הָאֹב֣וֹת1
- הָאֹבוֹת֙1
- הָאֹב֖וֹת1
- הָאֹבֹת֙1
- הָֽאֹבֹת֙1
and 2 more spellings in the ledger below.
The grammar of each form
- the definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine plural7HTd/Ncfpa
- noun · masculine singular6HNcmsa
- preposition with the article + noun · masculine singular2HRd/Ncmsa
- preposition + noun · feminine plural1HR/Ncfpa
- preposition + noun · masculine singular1HR/Ncmsa
Leviticus
three uses
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.
- הָאֹבֹת֙haovotthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine pluraltagged: the necromancers
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.
- הָֽאֹבֹת֙haovotthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine pluraltagged: the necromancers
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.’”
- א֛וֹבʾovnoun · masculine singulartagged: a necromancer
Deuteronomy
one use
casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead.
- אוֹב֙ʾovnoun · masculine singulartagged: a necromancer
1 Samuel
five uses
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.
- הָאֹב֥וֹתhaovotthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine pluraltagged: the necromancers
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.
- א֔וֹבʾovnoun · masculine singulartagged: necromancy
- א֖וֹבʾovnoun · masculine singulartagged: necromancy
So Saul disguised himself by putting on different clothes, and he set out with two of his men. They came to the woman at night, and Saul said, “Consult a spirit for me. Bring up for me the one I name.”
- בָּא֔וֹבbaovpreposition with the article + noun · masculine singulartagged: by the necromancy
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?”
- הָאֹב֥וֹתhaovotthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine pluraltagged: the necromancers
2 Kings
two uses
He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- א֖וֹבʾovnoun · masculine singulartagged: necromancer
Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to carry out the words of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD.
- הָאֹב֣וֹתhaovotthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine pluraltagged: the necromancers
1 Chronicles
one use
So Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance,
- בָּא֖וֹבbaovpreposition with the article + noun · masculine singulartagged: by the necromancy
2 Chronicles
one use
He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- א֖וֹבʾovnoun · masculine singulartagged: necromancer
Job
one use
Behold, my belly is like unvented wine; it is about to burst like a new wineskin.
- כְּאֹב֥וֹתkeovotpreposition + noun · feminine pluraltagged: like wineskins
Isaiah
three uses
When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
- הָאֹבוֹת֙haotthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine pluraltagged: the necromancers
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.
- הָאֹב֖וֹתhaovotthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine pluraltagged: the necromancers
You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.
- כְּא֤וֹבkeovpreposition + noun · masculine singulartagged: like a necromancer
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.