2 Kings 21:6

21:6 He passed his son ¹  through the fire ²  and practiced divination and omen reading. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits, and appointed magicians to supervise it. ³  He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 18:10-12

18:10 There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, ⁵  anyone who practices divination, ⁶  an omen reader, ⁷  a soothsayer, ⁸  a sorcerer, ⁹  18:11 one who casts spells, ¹⁰  one who conjures up spirits, ¹¹  a practitioner of the occult, ¹²  or a necromancer. ¹³  18:12 Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these detestable things ¹⁴  the Lord your God is about to drive them out ¹⁵  from before you.

Deuteronomy 18:2

18:2 They ¹⁶  will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; ¹⁷  the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them.

Deuteronomy 33:6

Blessing on Reuben

33:6 May Reuben live and not die,

and may his people multiply. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 8:19

Darkness Turns to Light as an Ideal King Arrives

8:19 ¹⁹ They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. ²⁰  Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?” ²¹ 

Isaiah 47:9

47:9 Both of these will come upon you

suddenly, in one day!

You will lose your children and be widowed. ²² 

You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ²³ 

despite ²⁴  your many incantations

and your numerous amulets. ²⁵ 

Isaiah 47:12-13

47:12 Persist ²⁶  in trusting ²⁷  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ²⁸  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ²⁹  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ³⁰ 

47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ³¹ 

Let them take their stand –

the ones who see omens in the sky,

who gaze at the stars,

who make monthly predictions –

let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ³² 

Jeremiah 27:9

27:9 So do not listen to your prophets or to those who claim to predict the future by divination, ³³  by dreams, by consulting the dead, ³⁴  or by practicing magic. They keep telling you, ‘You do not need to be ³⁵  subject to the king of Babylon.’

Micah 5:12

5:12 I will remove the sorcery ³⁶  that you practice, ³⁷ 

and you will no longer have omen readers living among you. ³⁸ 

Acts 16:16

Paul and Silas Are Thrown Into Prison

16:16 Now ³⁹  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. ⁴⁰  She ⁴¹  brought her owners ⁴²  a great profit by fortune-telling. ⁴³ 

Galatians 5:26

5:26 Let us not become conceited, ⁴⁴  provoking ⁴⁵  one another, being jealous ⁴⁶  of one another.

[21:6]  ¹ tc The LXX has the plural “his sons” here.

[21:6]  ² sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.

[21:6]  ³ tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with conjurers.” The Hebrew אוֹב (’ov), “ritual pit,” refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov), “owner of a ritual pit.” See H. Hoffner, “Second millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967), 385-401.

[21:6]  ⁴ tc Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix (“him”) has been accidentally omitted in the MT by haplography (note the vav that immediately follows).

[18:10]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn The translation understands the Hebrew participial form as having an imminent future sense here.

[18:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).

[18:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NASB “their countrymen”; NRSV “the other members of the community.”

[33:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and [not] may his men be few” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV).

[8:19]  ¹⁹ tn It is uncertain if the prophet or the Lord is speaking in vv. 19-22. If the latter, then vv. 19-22 resume the speech recorded in vv. 12-15, after the prophet’s response in vv. 16-18.

[8:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “inquire of the ritual pits and of the magicians who chirp and mutter.” The Hebrew word אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a אוֹב-בַּעֲלַת (ba’alat-’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.

[8:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “Should a nation not inquire of its gods on behalf of the living, (by inquiring) of the dead?” These words appear to be a continuation of the quotation begun in the first part of the verse. אֱלֹהָיו (’elohayv) may be translated “its gods” or “its God.” Some take the second half of the verse as the prophet’s (or the Lord’s) rebuke of the people who advise seeking oracles at the ritual pits, but in this case the words “the dead on behalf of the living” are difficult to explain.

[47:9]  ²² tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.

[47:9]  ²³ tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”

[47:9]  ²⁴ tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.

[47:9]  ²⁵ sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.

[47:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ²⁷ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[47:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”

[47:13]  ³² tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”

[27:9]  ³³ sn Various means of divination are alluded to in the OT. For example, Ezek 21:26-27 alludes to throwing down arrows to see which way they fall and consulting the shape of the liver of slaughtered animals. Gen 44:5 alludes to reading the future through pouring liquid in a cup. The means alluded to in this verse were all classified as pagan and prohibited as illegitimate in Deut 18:10-14. The Lord had promised that he would speak to them through prophets like Moses (Deut 18:15, 18). But even prophets could lie. Hence, the Lord told them that the test of a true prophet was whether what he said came true or not (Deut 18:20-22). An example of false prophesying and the vindication of the true as opposed to the false will be given in the chapter that follows this.

[27:9]  ³⁴ sn An example of this is seen in 1 Sam 28.

[27:9]  ³⁵ tn The verb in this context is best taken as a negative obligatory imperfect. See IBHS 508-9 §31.4g for discussion and examples. See Exod 4:15 as an example of positive obligation.

[5:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “magic charms” (so NCV, TEV); NIV, NLT “witchcraft”; NAB “the means of divination.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is uncertain, but note its use in Isa 47:9, 12.

[5:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “from your hands.”

[5:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and you will not have omen-readers.”

[16:16]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴² tn Or “masters.”

[16:16]  ⁴³ tn On this term see BDAG 616 s.v. μαντεύομαι. It was used of those who gave oracles.

[5:26]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “falsely proud.”

[5:26]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “irritating.” BDAG 871 s.v. προκαλέω has “provoke, challenge τινά someone.”

[5:26]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “another, envying one another.”