English Standard Version
Exodus 22:18
18"You shall not permit a sorceress to live.
Exodus 22:18 in other versions
Context of Exodus 22:18
16"If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife. 17If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins. "You shall not permit a sorceress to live. 19"Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death. 20"Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction.
Read all of Exodus 22Exodus 22:18 word by word
מְכַשֵּׁפָ֖ה לֹ֥א תְחַיֶּֽה׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Exodus 22:18
- Leviticus 19:26"You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.
- Leviticus 20:6"If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.
- Deuteronomy 18:10There 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 sorcerer
- 1 Samuel 28:3Now 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.
- Isaiah 19:3and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers;
- Acts 8:9But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great.
- Acts 16:16As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.
- Acts 19:19And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
- Galatians 5:20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
- Revelation 22:15Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Commentaries on Exodus 22:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live - If there had been no witches, such a law as this had never been made. The existence of the law, given under the direction of the Spirit of God, proves the existence of the thing. It has been doubted whether מכשפה mecash -shephah, which we translate witch, really means a person who practiced divination or sorcery by spiritual or infernal agency. Whether the persons thus denominated only pretended to have an art which…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live - See the marginal references. and Leviticus 20:27. The witch is here named to represent the class. This is the earliest denunciation of witchcraft in the law. In every form of witchcraft there is an appeal to a power not acting in subordination to the divine law. From all such notions and tendencies true worship is designed to deliver us. The practice of witchcraft was therefore an act of rebellion against Yahweh…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18The practices of a sorceress (a woman who uses magic or calls on spirits) reflected the pagan worldview (a way of understanding life that does not follow the true God). God was rescuing his people from this way of thinking and living. This worldview was completely different from the biblical one. The Lord had already commanded his people not to worship other gods (see 20:3; 23:13).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-311-4. If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep--The law respects the theft of cattle which constituted the chief part of their property. The penalty for the theft of a sheep which was slain or sold, was fourfold; for an ox fivefold, because of its greater utility in labor; but, should the stolen animal have been recovered alive, a double compensation was all that was required, because it was presumable he (the thief) was not a practised adept in dishonesty…Read the comment
Topics related to Exodus 22:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Exodus 22
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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