You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘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.
- KJV Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
- NKJV ‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
- NASB ‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
- NLT “Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God.
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
Israel must not consult mediums or spiritists, who defile those who seek them. God's people are to find guidance and comfort in Him alone.
Overview
Necromancy and divination promised access to hidden knowledge and the dead, but they drew people away from trust in Yahweh. Turning to such sources defiles, severing fellowship with the holy God. The repeated 'I am Yahweh your God' reminds Israel that He alone is their source of truth and security, a trust fulfilled in Christ, in whom all wisdom is hidden (Col. 2:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Isa 8:19When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
- Lev 20:27A man or a woman who is a medium or spiritist must surely be put to death. They shall be stoned; their blood is upon them.’”
- Lev 20:6–7Whoever turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute himself with them, I will also set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
- 2 Chr 33:6He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- Deut 18:10–14Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery,
- 1 Chr 10:13So Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance,
- 2 Kgs 21:6He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- Rev 21:8But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
- 1 Sam 28:3Now by this time Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.
- Isa 47:13You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you—your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate.
- Exod 22:18You must not allow a sorceress to live.
- Isa 29:4You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.
- 2 Kgs 17:17They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- Acts 19:19–20And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of the books was calculated, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
- Acts 16:16–18One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.
- Gal 5:20idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
- 1 Sam 28:7–9Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I can go and consult her.” “There is a medium at Endor,” his servants replied.
- Lev 19:26You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.
- Acts 8:11They paid close attention to him because he had astounded them for a long time with his sorcery.
- Acts 13:6–8They traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,
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Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 19:31 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
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