Acts 13:6

13:6 When they had crossed over ¹  the whole island as far as Paphos, ²  they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus, ³ 

Acts 16:16-18

Paul and Silas Are Thrown Into Prison

16:16 Now ⁴  as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. ⁵  She ⁶  brought her owners ⁷  a great profit by fortune-telling. ⁸  16:17 She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, ⁹  “These men are servants ¹⁰  of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way ¹¹  of salvation.” ¹²  16:18 She continued to do this for many days. But Paul became greatly annoyed, ¹³  and turned ¹⁴  and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ ¹⁵  to come out of her!” And it came out of her at once. ¹⁶ 

Acts 19:18-20

19:18 Many of those who had believed came forward, ¹⁷  confessing and making their deeds known. ¹⁸  19:19 Large numbers ¹⁹  of those who had practiced magic ²⁰  collected their books ²¹  and burned them up in the presence of everyone. ²²  When ²³  the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty thousand silver coins. ²⁴  19:20 In this way the word of the Lord ²⁵  continued to grow in power ²⁶  and to prevail. ²⁷ 

Exodus 7:11

7:11 Then Pharaoh also summoned wise men and sorcerers, ²⁸  and the magicians ²⁹  of Egypt by their secret arts ³⁰  did the same thing.

Exodus 7:22

7:22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same ³¹  by their secret arts, and so ³²  Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ³³  and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron ³⁴  – just as the Lord had predicted.

Exodus 8:18-19

8:18 When ³⁵  the magicians attempted ³⁶  to bring forth gnats by their secret arts, they could not. So there were gnats on people and on animals. 8:19 The magicians said ³⁷  to Pharaoh, “It is the finger ³⁸  of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ³⁹  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

Exodus 9:11

9:11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

Leviticus 20:6

Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums ⁴⁰ 

20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits ⁴¹  to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face ⁴²  against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12

18:10 There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, ⁴³  anyone who practices divination, ⁴⁴  an omen reader, ⁴⁵  a soothsayer, ⁴⁶  a sorcerer, ⁴⁷  18:11 one who casts spells, ⁴⁸  one who conjures up spirits, ⁴⁹  a practitioner of the occult, ⁵⁰  or a necromancer. ⁵¹  18:12 Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these detestable things ⁵²  the Lord your God is about to drive them out ⁵³  from before you.

Deuteronomy 18:2

18:2 They ⁵⁴  will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; ⁵⁵  the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them.

Deuteronomy 3:8-9

3:8 So at that time we took the land of the two Amorite kings in the Transjordan from Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon ⁵⁶  3:9 (the Sidonians ⁵⁷  call Hermon Sirion ⁵⁸  and the Amorites call it Senir), ⁵⁹ 

Revelation 13:13-14

13:13 He ⁶⁰  performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven in front of people ⁶¹  13:14 and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told ⁶²  those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived.

Revelation 22:15

22:15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers ⁶³  and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood! ⁶⁴ 

[13:6]  ¹ tn Or “had passed through,” “had traveled through.”

[13:6]  ² sn Paphos. A city on the southwestern coast of the island of Cyprus. It was the seat of the Roman proconsul.

[13:6]  ³ sn Named Bar-Jesus. “Jesus” is the Latin form of the name “Joshua.” The Aramaic “bar” means “son of,” so this man was surnamed “son of Joshua.” The scene depicts the conflict between Judaism and the emerging new faith at a cosmic level, much like the Simon Magus incident in Acts 8:9-24. Paul’s ministry looks like Philip’s and Peter’s here.

[16:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “Now it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[16:16]  ⁵ tn Or “who had a spirit of divination”; Grk “who had a spirit of Python.” According to BDAG 896-97 s.v. πύθων, originally Πύθων (Puqwn) was the name of the serpent or dragon that guarded the Delphic oracle. According to Greek mythology, it lived at the foot of Mount Parnassus and was killed by Apollo. From this, the word came to designate a person who was thought to have a spirit of divination. Pagan generals, for example, might consult someone like this. So her presence here suggests a supernatural encounter involving Paul and her “spirit.” W. Foerster, TDNT 6:920, connects the term with ventriloquism but states: “We must assume, however, that for this girl, as for those mentioned by Origen…, the art of ventriloquism was inseparably connected with a (supposed or authentic) gift of soothsaying.” It should also be noted that if the girl in question here were only a ventriloquist, the exorcism performed by Paul in v. 18 would not have been effective.

[16:16]  ⁶ tn Grk “who.” Because of the awkwardness in English of having two relative clauses follow one another (“who had a spirit…who brought her owners a great profit”) the relative pronoun here (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“she”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[16:16]  ⁷ tn Or “masters.”

[16:16]  ⁸ tn On this term see BDAG 616 s.v. μαντεύομαι. It was used of those who gave oracles.

[16:17]  ⁹ tn Grk “crying out, saying”; the participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant in English and has not been translated. The imperfect verb ἔκραζεν (ekrazen) has been translated as a progressive imperfect.

[16:17]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “slaves.” See the note on the word “servants” in 2:18. The translation “servants” was used here because in this context there appears to be more emphasis on the activity of Paul and his companions (“proclaiming to you the way of salvation”) than on their status as “slaves of the Most High God.”

[16:17]  ¹¹ tn Or “a way.” The grammar of this phrase is a bit ambiguous. The phrase in Greek is ὁδὸν σωτηρίας (Jodon swthria"). Neither the head noun nor the genitive noun has the article; this is in keeping with Apollonius’ Canon (see ExSyn 239-40). Since both nouns are anarthrous, this construction also fits Apollonius’ Corollary (see ExSyn 250-54); since the genitive noun is abstract it is most naturally qualitative, so the head noun could either be definite or indefinite without being unusual as far as the grammar is concerned. Luke’s usage of ὁδός elsewhere is indecisive as far as this passage is concerned. However, when one looks at the historical background it is clear that (1) the woman is shut up (via exorcism) not because her testimony is false but because of its source (analogous to Jesus’ treatment of demons perhaps), and (b) “the way” is a par excellence description of the new faith throughout Acts. It thus seems that at least in Luke’s presentation “the way of salvation” is the preferred translation.

[16:17]  ¹² sn Proclaiming to you the way of salvation. The remarks were an ironic recognition of Paul’s authority, but he did not desire such a witness, possibly for fear of confusion. Her expression the Most High God might have been understood as Zeus by the audience.

[16:18]  ¹³ tn Grk “becoming greatly annoyed.” The participle διαπονηθείς (diaponhqei") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. The aorist has been translated as an ingressive aorist (entry into a state or condition). See BDAG 235 s.v. διαπονέομαι.

[16:18]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and turning.” The participle ἐπιστρέψας (epistreya") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[16:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[16:18]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 1102-3 s.v. ὥρα 2.c has “at that very time, at once, instantly” for the usage in this verse.

[19:18]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “came”; the word “forward” is supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning and to conform to the contemporary English idiom.

[19:18]  ¹⁸ tn Or “confessing and disclosing their deeds.” BDAG 59 s.v. ἀναγγέλλω 2 has “W. ἐξομολογεῖσθαι: ἀ. τὰς πράξεις αὐτο'ν make their deeds known Ac 19:18.”

[19:19]  ¹⁹ tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 4.a has “many, quite a few” for ἱκανοί (Jikanoi) in this verse.

[19:19]  ²⁰ tn On this term see BDAG 800 s.v. περίεργος 2.

[19:19]  ²¹ tn Or “scrolls.”

[19:19]  ²² tn Or “burned them up publicly.” L&N 14.66 has “‘they brought their books together and burned them up in the presence of everyone’ Ac 19:19.”

[19:19]  ²³ tn Grk “and when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[19:19]  ²⁴ tn Or “fifty thousand silver drachmas” (about $10,000 US dollars). BDAG 128 s.v. ἀργύριον 2.c states, “ἀργυρίου μυριάδας πέντε 50,000 (Attic silver) drachmas Ac 19:19.” Another way to express the value would be in sheep: One drachma could buy one sheep. So this many drachmas could purchase a huge flock of sheep. A drachma also equals a denarius, or a day’s wage for the average worker. So this amount would be equal to 50,000 work days or in excess of 8,300 weeks of labor (the weeks are calculated at six working days because of the Jewish cultural context). The impact of Christianity on the Ephesian economy was considerable (note in regard to this the concerns expressed in 19:26-27).

[19:20]  ²⁵ sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; here and in Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.

[19:20]  ²⁶ tn The imperfect verb ηὔξανεν (huxanen) has been translated as a progressive imperfect, as has the following verb ἴσχυεν (iscuen).

[19:20]  ²⁷ sn The word of the Lord…to prevail. Luke portrays the impact of Christianity in terms of the Lord’s transforming power in the lives of individuals.

[7:11]  ²⁸ sn For information on this Egyptian material, see D. B. Redford, A Study of the Biblical Story of Joseph (VTSup), 203-4.

[7:11]  ²⁹ tn The חַרְטֻּמִּים (kharttummim) seem to have been the keepers of Egypt’s religious and magical texts, the sacred scribes.

[7:11]  ³⁰ tn The term בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶם (bÿlahatehem) means “by their secret arts”; it is from לוּט (lut, “to enwrap”). The Greek renders the word “by their magic”; Tg. Onq. uses “murmurings” and “whispers,” and other Jewish sources “dazzling display” or “demons” (see further B. Jacob, Exodus, 253-54). They may have done this by clever tricks, manipulation of the animals, or demonic power. Many have suggested that Aaron and the magicians were familiar with an old trick in which they could temporarily paralyze a serpent and then revive it. But here Aaron’s snake swallows up their snakes.

[7:22]  ³¹ tn Heb “thus, so.”

[7:22]  ³² tn The vav consecutive on the preterite introduces the outcome or result of the matter – Pharaoh was hardened.

[7:22]  ³³ tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh became hard.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.

[7:22]  ³⁴ tn Heb “to them”; the referents (Moses and Aaron) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:18]  ³⁵ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the main clause as a temporal clause.

[8:18]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and the magicians did so.”

[8:19]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and the magicians said.”

[8:19]  ³⁸ tn The word “finger” is a bold anthropomorphism (a figure of speech in which God is described using human characteristics).

[8:19]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh became hard.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.

[20:6]  ⁴⁰ sn For structure and coherence in Lev 20:6-27 see the note on v. 27 below.

[20:6]  ⁴¹ tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirits” in Lev 19:31 above.

[20:6]  ⁴² tn Heb “I will give my faces.”

[18:10]  ⁴³ tn Heb “who passes his son or his daughter through the fire.” The expression “pass…through the fire” is probably a euphemism for human sacrifice (cf. NAB, NIV, TEV, NLT). See also Deut 12:31.

[18:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “a diviner of divination” (קֹסֵם קְסָמִים, qosem qÿsamim). This was a means employed to determine the future or the outcome of events by observation of various omens and signs (cf. Num 22:7; 23:23; Josh 13:22; 1 Sam 6:2; 15:23; 28:8; etc.). See M. Horsnell, NIDOTTE 3:945-51.

[18:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “one who causes to appear” (מְעוֹנֵן, mÿ’onen). Such a practitioner was thought to be able to conjure up spirits or apparitions (cf. Lev 19:26; Judg 9:37; 2 Kgs 21:6; Isa 2:6; 57:3; Jer 27:9; Mic 5:11).

[18:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “a seeker of omens” (מְנַחֵשׁ, mÿnakhesh). This is a subset of divination, one illustrated by the use of a “divining cup” in the story of Joseph (Gen 44:5).

[18:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “a doer of sorcery” (מְכַשֵּׁף, mikhashef). This has to do with magic or the casting of spells in order to manipulate the gods or the powers of nature (cf. Lev 19:26-31; 2 Kgs 17:15b-17; 21:1-7; Isa 57:3, 5; etc.). See M. Horsnell, NIDOTTE 2:735-38.

[18:11]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “a binder of binding” (חֹבֵר חָבֶר, khover khaver). The connotation is that of immobilizing (“binding”) someone or something by the use of magical words (cf. Ps 58:6; Isa 47:9, 12).

[18:11]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “asker of a [dead] spirit” (שֹׁאֵל אוֹב, sho’el ’ov). This is a form of necromancy (cf. Lev 19:31; 20:6; 1 Sam 28:8, 9; Isa 8:19; 19:3; 29:4).

[18:11]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “a knowing [or “familiar”] [spirit]” (יִדְּעֹנִי, yiddÿ’oniy), i.e., one who is expert in mantic arts (cf. Lev 19:31; 20:6, 27; 1 Sam 28:3, 9; 2 Kgs 21:6; Isa 8:19; 19:3).

[18:11]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “a seeker of the dead.” This is much the same as “one who conjures up spirits” (cf. 1 Sam 28:6-7).

[18:12]  ⁵² tn Heb “these abhorrent things.” The repetition is emphatic. For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, the same term used earlier in the verse has been translated “detestable” here.

[18:12]  ⁵³ tn The translation understands the Hebrew participial form as having an imminent future sense here.

[18:2]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).

[18:2]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NASB “their countrymen”; NRSV “the other members of the community.”

[3:8]  ⁵⁶ sn Mount Hermon. This is the famous peak at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range known today as Jebel es-Sheik.

[3:9]  ⁵⁷ sn Sidonians were Phoenician inhabitants of the city of Sidon (now in Lebanon), about 47 mi (75 km) north of Mount Carmel.

[3:9]  ⁵⁸ sn Sirion. This name is attested in the Ugaritic texts as sryn. See UT 495.

[3:9]  ⁵⁹ sn Senir. Probably this was actually one of the peaks of Hermon and not the main mountain (Song of Songs 4:8; 1 Chr 5:23). It is mentioned in a royal inscription of Shalmaneser III of Assyria (saniru; see ANET 280).

[13:13]  ⁶⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[13:13]  ⁶¹ tn This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both men and women.

[13:14]  ⁶² tn Grk “earth, telling.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek.

[22:15]  ⁶³ tn On the term φάρμακοι (farmakoi) see L&N 53.101.

[22:15]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “lying,” “deceit.”