Imamat 19:26

Blood, Hair, and Body

19:26 “‘You must not eat anything with the blood still in it. ¹  You must not practice either divination or soothsaying. ² 

Imamat 20:6

Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums ³ 

20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits ⁴  to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face ⁵  against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

Ulangan 18:10-14

18:10 There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, ⁶  anyone who practices divination, ⁷  an omen reader, ⁸  a soothsayer, ⁹  a sorcerer, ¹⁰  18:11 one who casts spells, ¹¹  one who conjures up spirits, ¹²  a practitioner of the occult, ¹³  or a necromancer. ¹⁴  18:12 Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these detestable things ¹⁵  the Lord your God is about to drive them out ¹⁶  from before you. 18:13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God. 18:14 Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things.

Ulangan 18:1

Provision for Priests and Levites

18:1 The Levitical priests ¹⁷  – indeed, the entire tribe of Levi – will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance. ¹⁸ 

1 Samuel 15:23

15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

and presumption is like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

he has rejected you as ¹⁹  king.”

1 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed ²⁰  Israel along the way when Israel ²¹  came up from Egypt.

Kisah Para Rasul 17:17

17:17 So he was addressing ²²  the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles ²³  in the synagogue, ²⁴  and in the marketplace every day ²⁵  those who happened to be there.

Yesaya 47:9-12

47:9 Both of these will come upon you

suddenly, in one day!

You will lose your children and be widowed. ²⁶ 

You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ²⁷ 

despite ²⁸  your many incantations

and your numerous amulets. ²⁹ 

47:10 You were complacent in your evil deeds; ³⁰ 

you thought, ³¹  ‘No one sees me.’

Your self-professed ³²  wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,

when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’ ³³ 

47:11 Disaster will overtake you;

you will not know how to charm it away. ³⁴ 

Destruction will fall on you;

you will not be able to appease it.

Calamity will strike you suddenly,

before you recognize it. ³⁵ 

47:12 Persist ³⁶  in trusting ³⁷  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ³⁸  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ³⁹  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ⁴⁰ 

Galatia 5:20

5:20 idolatry, sorcery, ⁴¹  hostilities, ⁴²  strife, ⁴³  jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, ⁴⁴  factions,

[19:26]  ¹ tn Heb “You shall not eat on the blood.” See the extensive remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 319-20, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 132-33. The LXX has “on the mountains,” suggesting that this is a prohibition against illegitimate places and occasions of worship, not the eating of blood.

[19:26]  ² tn Heb “You shall not practice divination and you shall not practice soothsaying”; cf. NRSV “practice augury or witchcraft.” For suggestions regarding the practices involved see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 133, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 320.

[20:6]  ³ sn For structure and coherence in Lev 20:6-27 see the note on v. 27 below.

[20:6]  ⁴ tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirits” in Lev 19:31 above.

[20:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will give my faces.”

[18:10]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn The translation understands the Hebrew participial form as having an imminent future sense here.

[18:1]  ¹⁷ tn The MT places the terms “priests” and “Levites” in apposition, thus creating an epexegetical construction in which the second term qualifies the first, i.e., “Levitical priests.” This is a way of asserting their legitimacy as true priests. The Syriac renders “to the priest and to the Levite,” making a distinction between the two, but one that is out of place here.

[18:1]  ¹⁸ sn Of his inheritance. This is a figurative way of speaking of the produce of the land the Lord will give to his people. It is the Lord’s inheritance, but the Levites are allowed to eat it since they themselves have no inheritance among the other tribes of Israel.

[15:23]  ¹⁹ tn Or “from [being].”

[15:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”

[15:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:17]  ²² tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 17:17. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.

[17:17]  ²³ tn Or “and the devout,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44, and the note on the phrase “God-fearing Greeks” in 17:4.

[17:17]  ²⁴ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[17:17]  ²⁵ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[47:9]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”

[47:9]  ²⁸ tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.

[47:9]  ²⁹ 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.

[47:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “you trusted in your evil”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “wickedness.”

[47:10]  ³¹ tn Or “said”; NAB “said to yourself”’ NASB “said in your heart.”

[47:10]  ³² tn The words “self-professed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[47:10]  ³³ tn See the note at v. 8.

[47:11]  ³⁴ tc The Hebrew text has שַׁחְרָהּ (shakhrah), which is either a suffixed noun (“its dawning,” i.e., origin) or infinitive (“to look early for it”). Some have suggested an emendation to שַׁחֲדָהּ (shakhadah), a suffixed infinitive from שָׁחַד (shakhad, “[how] to buy it off”; see BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחַד). This forms a nice parallel with the following couplet. The above translation is based on a different etymology of the verb in question. HALOT 1466 s.v. III שׁחר references a verbal root with these letters (שׁחד) that refers to magical activity.

[47:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “you will not know”; NIV “you cannot foresee.”

[47:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ³⁷ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[5:20]  ⁴¹ tn Or “witchcraft.”

[5:20]  ⁴² tn Or “enmities,” “[acts of] hatred.”

[5:20]  ⁴³ tn Or “discord” (L&N 39.22).

[5:20]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “discord(s)” (L&N 39.13).