Deuteronomy 18 · Verse 11

Deuteronomy 18:11

Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
Deuteronomy 18:11, King James Version

Deuteronomy 18:11 in other translations

BSBcasts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead.
WEBor a charmer, or someone who consults with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
ASVor a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
YLTand a charmer, and one asking at a familiar spirit, and a wizard, and one seeking unto the dead.
DARBYor a charmer, or one that inquireth of a spirit of Python, or a soothsayer, or one that consulteth the dead.
BBEOr anyone using secret force on people, or putting questions to a spirit, or having secret knowledge, or going to the dead for directions.
WebsterOr a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

What does Deuteronomy 18:11 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 18:9-14

De 18:9-14. The Abominations of the Nations Are to Be Avoided. 9-14. thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations--(See on Le 18:21; Le 19:26; Le 19:31; Le 20:4). In spite of this express command, the people of Canaan, especially the Philistines, were a constant snare and stumbling block to the Israelites, on account of their divinations and superstitious practices.

Read the full comment on Deuteronomy 18:9-14 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 11 A charmer - חבר חבר chober chaber, one who uses spells; a peculiar conjunction, as the term implies, of words, or things, tying knots, etc., for the purposes of divination. This was a custom among the heathen, as we learn from the following verses: - Necte Tribus Nodis ternos, Amarylli, colores: Necte, Amarylli, modo; et Veneris, dic, vincula necto. Virg. Ecl. viii., ver. 77. "Knit with three Knots the fillets, knit them straight; Then say, these Knots to love I consecrate." Dryden. A consulter with familiar spirits - שאל אוב shoel ob, a Pythoness, one who inquires by the means of one spirit to get oracular answers from another of a superior order. See on Lev 19:31 (note). A wizard - ידעני yiddeoni, a wise one, a knowing one. Wizard was formerly considered as the masculine of witch, both practising divination by similar means. See on Exo 22:13 (note), and Lev 19:31 (note). Or a necromancer - דרש אל המתים doresh el hammethim, one who seeks from or inquires of the dead. Such as the witch at Endor, who professed to evoke the dead, in order to get them to disclose the secrets of the spiritual world.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Deuteronomy 18:9-14

Was it possible that a people so blessed with Divine institutions, should ever be in any danger of making those their teachers whom God had made their captives? They were in danger; therefore, after many like cautions, they are charged not to do after the abominations of the nations of Canaan. All reckoning of lucky or unlucky days, all charms for diseases, all amulets or spells to prevent evil, fortune-telling, &c…

Read the full comment on Deuteronomy 18:9-14 →

Deuteronomy 18:11 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְחֹבֵ֖רve.cho.Verand [one who] castsH2266
חָ֑בֶרCha.vera spellH2267
וְשֹׁאֵ֥לve.sho.'Eland [one who] consultsH7592
אוֹב֙'Ova necromancerH178
וְיִדְּעֹנִ֔יve.yi.de.'o.Niand a familiar spiritH3049
וְדֹרֵ֖שׁve.do.Reshand [one who] enquiresH1875
אֶל\־'el-toH413
הַמֵּתִֽים\׃ha.me.Timthe deadH4191

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Deuteronomy 18:11

  • 1 Samuel 28:11-14

    Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.

  • Leviticus 19:31

    Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
or a necromancer.
1Sa 28:11-14

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Deuteronomy 18:10

    There 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,

  • Deuteronomy 18:11

    Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

  • Deuteronomy 18:12

    For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

Read all of Deuteronomy 18

Deuteronomy 18:11 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Ni fraguador de encantamentos, ni quien pregunte á pitón, ni mágico, ni quien pregunte á los muertos.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		ni sorcier, ni personne qui consulte les esprits, ni diseur de bonne aventure, ni personne qui interroge les morts;
German
Elberfelder 1871		oder Bannsprecher oder Totenbeschwörer oder Wahrsager oder der die Toten befragt.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		nec incantator, nec qui pythones consulat, nec divinos, aut quærat a mortuis veritatem.