New English Translation
Exodus 22:18
18“You must not allow 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 engaged and has sexual relations with her, he must surely endow her to be his wife. 17If her father refuses to give her to him, he must pay money for the bride price of virgins. “You must not allow a sorceress to live. 19“Whoever has sexual relations with a beast must surely be put to death. 20“Whoever sacrifices to a god other than the Lord alone must be utterly destroyed.
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 must not eat anything with the blood still in it. You must not practice either divination or soothsaying.
- Leviticus 20:6“‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.
- Deuteronomy 18:10There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer,
- 1 Samuel 28:3Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums and magicians from the land.
- Isaiah 19:3The Egyptians will panic, and I will confuse their strategy. They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead, from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians.
- Acts 8:9Now in that city was a man named Simon, who had been practicing magic and amazing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great.
- Acts 16:16Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling.
- Acts 19:19Large numbers of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them up in the presence of everyone. When the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty thousand silver coins.
- Galatians 5:20idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions,
- Revelation 22:15Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the 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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