The Sin of Witchcraft
| Secondary Keywords | divided king kingdom kings old sin testament witchcraft |
|---|---|
| Scriptures | 1 Samuel 28 2 Chronicles 33 2 Kings 21 Deuteronomy 18 Isaiah 3 Leviticus 19 |
1 Samuel 281 In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, “Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army.”2 David said to Achish, “Very well, you shall know what your servant can do.” And Achish said to David, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.”3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land.4 The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa.5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.6 And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets.7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.”8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you.”9 The woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?”10 But Saul swore to her by the LORD, “As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.”11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul.”13 The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.”14 He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.”16 And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned from you and become your enemy?17 The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me, for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David.18 Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day.19 Moreover, the LORD will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The LORD will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”20 Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.21 And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, “Behold, your servant has obeyed you. I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to what you have said to me.22 Now therefore, you also obey your servant. Let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way.”23 He refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he listened to their words. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed.24 Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly killed it, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it,25 and she put it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night. 2 Chronicles 331 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.3 For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.”5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.6 And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.7 And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever,8 and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.”9 Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.15 And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city.16 He also restored the altar of the LORD and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.17 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.19 And his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and the images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers.20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.22 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images that Manasseh his father had made, and served them.23 And he did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more.24 And his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his house.25 But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. 2 Kings 211 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.3 For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.”5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.6 And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.7 And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.8 And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.”9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.10 And the LORD said by his servants the prophets,11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols,12 therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.14 And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies,15 because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”16 Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.20 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done.21 He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them.22 He abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.23 And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house.24 But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?26 And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place. Deuteronomy 181 “The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the LORD's food offerings as their inheritance.2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance, as he promised them.3 And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach.4 The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.5 For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for all time.6 “And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, where he lives—and he may come when he desires —to the place that the LORD will choose,7 and ministers in the name of the LORD his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the LORD,8 then he may have equal portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.9 “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead,12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you.13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God,14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this.15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—16 just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’17 And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’—22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. Isaiah 31 For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water;2 the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,3 the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms.4 And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.5 And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.6 For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: “You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule”;7 in that day he will speak out, saying: “I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; you shall not make me leader of the people.”8 For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.9 For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.10 Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.12 My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.13 The LORD has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples.14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: “It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses.15 What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of hosts.16 The LORD said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet,17 therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will lay bare their secret parts.18 In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents;19 the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves;20 the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets;21 the signet rings and nose rings;22 the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags;23 the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.24 Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.25 Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle.26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground. Leviticus 191 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.5 “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire.7 If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is tainted; it will not be accepted,8 and everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from his people.9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.19 “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.20 “If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free;21 but he shall bring his compensation to the LORD, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.22 And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.23 “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten.24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD.25 But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the LORD your God.26 “You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.27 You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.28 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.29 “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.30 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.31 “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.32 “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.33 “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.35 “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.36 You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.37 And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the LORD.” | |
