Witchcraft and divination in the Hebrew Bible

William Blake's painting of Saul, the shade of Samuel and the Witch of Endor.

Various forms of witchcraft and divination are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament), which are expressly forbidden.

## Prohibitions

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Laws prohibiting various forms of witchcraft and divination can be found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. These include the following (as translated in the Revised JPS, 2023:

* Exodus 22:18 – "You shall not tolerate a sorceress [Biblical Hebrew: מְכַשֵּׁפָ֖ה, romanized: mək̲aššēp̄ā]."[1]
* Leviticus 19:26 – "You shall not eat anything with its blood. You shall not practice divination or soothsaying [תְנַחֲשׁ֖וּ וְלֹ֥א תְעוֹנֵֽנוּ tənaḥăšu wəlo t̲əʿonēnu]."[2]
* Leviticus 20:27 – "A man or a woman who has a ghost or a familiar spirit [א֛וֹב א֥וֹ יִדְּעֹנִ֖י ob̲ o yiddəʿoni] shall be put to death; they shall be pelted with stones—and the bloodguilt is theirs."[3]
* Deuteronomy 18:10-11 – "Let no one be found among you who consigns a son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead [דֹרֵ֖שׁ אֶל־הַמֵּתִֽים dorēš el-hammēt̲im]."[4]

The forms of divination mentioned in Deuteronomy 17 are portrayed as foreign; this is the only part of the Hebrew Bible to make such a claim.[5] According to Ann Jeffers, the presence of laws forbidding necromancy proves that it was practiced throughout Israel's history.[6]

The exact difference between the three forbidden forms of necromancy mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:11 is a matter of uncertainty; yiddeʿoni ("wizard") is always used together with ov "consulter with familiar spirits," [7] and its semantic similarity to doresh el hametim ("necromancer", or "one who directs inquiries to the dead") raises the question of why all three are mentioned in the same verse.[citation needed] The Jewish tractate Sanhedrin makes the distinction that a doresh el hametim was a person who would sleep in a cemetery after having starved himself, in order to become possessed.[8]

A prophetic passage in the Book of Micah states that witchcraft and soothsaying will be eliminated in the Messianic Age (Micah 5:12).

## Instances in Biblical narrative

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* In the Book of Exodus, Egyptian magicians replicate several of the signs delivered to the Biblical Pharaoh by Moses and Aaron.
* In 1 Samuel 28, Saul enlists the Witch of Endor to summon the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel, who rebukes him for using witchcraft.

## See also

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* Christian views on magic
* Daemonologie
* Halakha
* Islam and magic
* Jewish views on astrology
* Mediumship
* Practical Kabbalah
* Semitic neopaganism

## References

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1. ^ "Exodus 22:17". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
2. ^ "Leviticus 19:26". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
3. ^ "Leviticus 20:27". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
4. ^ "Deuteronomy 18:10". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
5. ^ Cryer, Frederick H. (1994). Divination in Ancient Israel and its Near Eastern Environment: A Socio-Historical Investigation. A&C Black. pp. 231–2.
6. ^ Jeffers, Ann (1996). Magic and Divination in Ancient Palestine and Syria. Brill. p. 181.
7. ^ Jeffers 1996, p. 172
8. ^ "Sanhedrin 65b". Sefaria. Retrieved 12 November 2021.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Milgrom, Jacob (2000). Leviticus 17-22. Doubleday. pp. 1686–89\. ISBN 9780385412551.

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Magic and witchcraft

Types|

| Region|

* Africa
* Azande
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* Asia
* Jhākri
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* Italy
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Form|

* Chaos magic
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* Renaissance
* Solitary practitioner
* Warlock
* Witch doctor

Practices|

* Animism
* Apotropaic magic
* Black magic
* Ceremonial magic
* Magical formula
* Coven
* Curse
* Anathema
* Damnation
* Jinx
* Demon
* Divination
* Entheogen
* Evocation
* Familiar
* Gray magic
* Incantation
* Jinn
* Love magic
* Mediumship
* Moon magic
* Necromancy
* Occultism
* Shamanism
* Black
* Regional
* Yellow
* Sex magic
* Sigils
* Spiritism
* Spiritualism
* Sympathetic magic
* Witches' Sabbath
* White magic

Objects|

* Amulet
* Athame
* Broom
* besom
* Censer
* Cloak of invisibility
* Crystal ball
* Flying ointment
* Goofer dust
* Grimoire
* Incense
* Julleuchter
* Kitchen witch
* Love charm
* Magic carpet
* Magic circle
* Magic ring
* Magical weapons
* Magic sword
* Mojo bag
* Nkisi
* Nkondi
* Poppet
* Potions
* Sator Square
* Talisman
* Wand
* Witch ball
* Witch's ladder

Folklore and
mythology|

* Agamede
* Aradia
* Baba Yaga
* Circe
* Dayan
* Drude
* Elbow witch
* Hecate
* Huld
* Kalku
* Medea
* Morgan le Fay
* Muma Pădurii
* Nine sorceresses
* Obayifo
* Pasiphaë
* Sebile
* Sorginak
* Spearfinger
* Three Witches
* Witches of Benevento
* Witch of Endor
* Yama-uba

Major
historic treatises|

* Witchcraft and divination in the Old Testament (8th–2nd centuries BC)
* Directorium Inquisitorum (1376)
* De maleficis mulieribus (1440)
* Formicarius (1475)
* Summis desiderantes affectibus (1484)
* Malleus Maleficarum (1487)
* De Lamiis et Pythonicis Mulieribus (1489)
* Laienspiegel (1509)
* De praestigiis daemonum (1563)
* The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584)
* Newes from Scotland (1591)
* A Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcrafts (1593)
* Daemonolatreiae libri tres (1595)
* Daemonologie (1597)
* Magical Investigations (1599)
* Compendium Maleficarum (1608)
* A Guide to Grand-Jury Men (1627)
* The Discovery of Witches (1647)
* Treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires or Revenants (1751)

Persecution|

| Modern|

* Jamyi Witch hiring controversy
* accusations against children
* India
* Nepal
* Papua New Guinea
* Witch camp

|

Early Modern|

| Americas|

* Maryland
* New York
* Salem
* Virginia

|

Eastern Europe|

* Hungary
* Northern Moravia
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Northern Europe|

* Baltic
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* England
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Western Europe|

* France
* Geneva
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* Basque

Classical|

* Witch trials in the Holy Roman Empire

Related|

* Witch hunt
* Witch's mark
* Pricking
* List of people executed for witchcraft

In popular culture|

* Magic in fiction
* Witches in fiction

Related|

* Witch (word)
* Witch (archetype)
* Christian views on magic
* Magical organization
* Maleficium
* Left-hand path and right-hand path
* Feminist interpretations of witch trials in the early modern period
* Folk religion
* Adept

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Witch trials

In the British Isles|

* Witchcraft in early modern Britain
* Channel Islands Witch Trials
* Witch trials in England
* Witchcraft in Orkney
* Witch trials in early modern Scotland
* Witchcraft in early modern Wales
* Windsor Witches (1579)
* St Osyth Witches (1582)
* Witches of Warboys (1589–1593)
* North Berwick witch trials (1590)
* Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597
* Pendle witches (1612)
* Northamptonshire witch trials (1612)
* Samlesbury witches (1612)
* Witches of Belvoir (1619)
* Bury St Edmunds witch trials (1645, 1662, 1655, 1694)
* Great Scottish witch hunt of 1649–50
* Alloa witch trials (1658)
* Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661–62
* Bute witches (1662)
* Bideford witch trial (1682)
* Paisley witches (1696)
* Pittenweem witches (1704)
* Islandmagee witch trial (1711)

In Eastern Europe|

* Witch trials in Hungary
* Witch trials in Poland
* Kasina Wielka witch trial (1634)
* Northern Moravia witch trials (1678)
* Szeged witch trials (1728–29)
* Doruchowo witch trial (1783)

In France|

* Witch trials in France
* Labourd witch-hunt of 1609
* Aix-en-Provence possessions (1611)
* Loudun possessions (1633–34)
* Louviers possessions (1647)
* Normandy witch trials (1669–70)
* Affair of the Poisons (1679–1682)
* Trial of the Wizards of Lyon (1742–1745)

In Germany|

* Witch trials in the Holy Roman Empire
* Rottweil Witch Trials
* Derenburg witch trials (1555)
* Wiesensteig witch trial (1562–1563)
* Rottenburg witch trials (1578–1613)
* Trier witch trials (1581–1593)
* Pappenheimer family witch trial (1600)
* Fulda witch trials (1603–1606)
* Ellwangen witch trial (1611–1618)
* Eichstätt witch trials (1617–1630)
* Würzburg witch trials (1626–1631)
* Bamberg witch trials (1626–1631)
* Baden-Baden witch trials (1627–1631)
* Mergentheim witch trials (1628–1631)
* Esslingen witch trials (1662–1666)
* Witch trial of Fuersteneck (1703)

In Northern Europe|

* Witch trials in Denmark
* Witch trials in Estonia and Latvia
* Witch trials in Finland
* Witch trials in Iceland
* Witch trials in Norway
* Witch trials in Sweden
* Põlula witch trials (1542)
* Copenhagen witch trials (1590)
* Gyldenstierne-sagen (1596)
* Køge Huskors (1608–1615)
* Finspång witch trial (1617)
* Vardø witch trials (1621)
* Akershus witch trials (1624)
* Ramsele witch trial (1634)
* Rosborg witch trials (1639–1642)
* Vardø witch trials (1651–1653)
* Kirkjuból witch trial (1656)
* Vardø witch trials (1662–63)
* Kastelholm witch trials (1665–1668)
* Mora witch trial (1669)
* Torsåker witch trials (1675)
* Katarina witch trials (1676)
* Rugård witch trials (1685–86)
* Thisted witch trial (1696–1698)

In Southern Europe|

* Witch trials in Italy
* Witch trials in Catalonia
* Witch trials in Portugal
* Witch trials in Sicily
* Witch trials in Spain
* Val Camonica witch trials (1505, 1518)
* Mirandola witch trials (1522–1525)
* Navarre witch trials (1525–26)
* Lisbon witch trial (1559–60)
* Benandanti (1575–1650)
* Witches of Laspaúles (1593)
* Basque witch trials (1609)
* Terrassa witch trials (1615–1619)
* Witch trial of Nogaredo (1646–47)

Elsewhere
in Europe|

* Witch trials in the Netherlands
* Witch trials in the Spanish Netherlands
* Stedelen witch trial (1397–1407)
* Valais witch trials (1428–1447)
* Geneva witch trials (1571)
* Amersfoort and Utrecht witch trials (1591–1595)
* Bredevoort witch trials (1610)
* Roermond witch trial (1613)
* Spa witch trial (1616)
* Lukh witch trials (1656–1660)
* Salzburg witch trials (1675–1681)
* Liechtenstein witch trials (1679–1682)

Outside of Europe|

* Witch trials in Virginia (1626–1730)
* Connecticut Witch Trials (1647–1663)
* Maryland Witch Trials (1654–1712)
* Witch trials in New York (1642–1790)
* Salem witch trials (1692–1693)

Texts|

* Witchcraft and divination in the Old Testament (8th–2nd centuries BC)
* Directorium Inquisitorum (1376)
* De maleficis mulieribus (1440)
* Formicarius (1475)
* Summis desiderantes affectibus (1484)
* Malleus Maleficarum (1487)
* De Lamiis et Pythonicis Mulieribus (1489)
* Laienspiegel (1509)
* De praestigiis daemonum (1563)
* The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584)
* Newes from Scotland (1591)
* A Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcrafts (1593)
* Daemonolatreiae libri tres (1595)
* Daemonologie (1597)
* Magical Investigations (1599)
* Compendium Maleficarum (1608)
* A Guide to Grand-Jury Men (1627)
* The Discovery of Witches (1647)
* Treatises on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires or Revenants (1751)

Related|

* Witch hunt
* accusations against children
* Drudenhaus
* Werewolf witch trials
* Witchcraft Acts
* Witchcraft Act 1735 (Great Britain)

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