Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Parallel translations
- WEB “You shall not allow a sorceress to live.
- BSB You must not allow a sorceress to live.
- NKJV “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.
- NASB “You shall not allow a sorceress to live.
- NLT “You must not allow a sorceress to live.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A sorceress must not be allowed to live. Occult practices rebel against God and corrupt His covenant people.
Overview
Sorcery sought power apart from God and drew Israel toward idolatry and demonic influence, so it was treated as a grave covenant offense. The law guarded the community's exclusive devotion to the Lord. While the civil penalty belonged to Israel's theocracy, the warning against occultism stands, and the gospel offers deliverance from every dark power through Christ's victory (Colossians 2:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Lev 20:27A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.
- Deut 18:10–11There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.
- 1 Sam 28:3Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.
- Lev 20:6And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
- Rev 22:15For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
- Lev 19:31Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
- Lev 19:26Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.
- Isa 19:3And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
- Gal 5:20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
- Acts 19:19Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
- Acts 8:9–11But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:
- 1 Sam 28:9And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?
- Acts 16:16–19And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 22:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.