“You must not allow a sorceress to live.
Parallel translations
- WEB “You shall not allow a sorceress to live.
- KJV Thou shalt not suffer a witch 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.
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 20:27“‘A man or a woman that is a medium, or 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 with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,
- 1 Sam 28:3Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Saul had put away those who had familiar spirits the wizards, out of the land.
- Lev 20:6“‘The person that turns to those who are mediums, and to the wizards, to play the prostitute after them, I will even set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people.
- Rev 22:15Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Lev 19:31“‘Don’t turn to those who are mediums, nor to the wizards. Don’t seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God.
- Lev 19:26“‘You shall not eat any meat with the blood still in it. You shall not use enchantments, nor practice sorcery.
- Isa 19:3The spirit of Egypt will fail within it. I will destroy its counsel. They will seek the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards.
- Gal 5:20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
- Acts 19:19Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted their price, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.
- Acts 8:9–11But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city, and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one,
- 1 Sam 28:9The woman said to him, “Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?”
- Acts 16:16–19As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.