New International Version
Leviticus 19:31
31“ ‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:31 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
- New Living Translation (NLT)“Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God.
Context of Leviticus 19:31
29“ ‘Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness. 30“ ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. “ ‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. 32“ ‘Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord. 33“ ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.
Read all of Leviticus 19Leviticus 19:31 word by word
אַל־תִּפְנ֤וּ אֶל־הָאֹבֹת֙ וְאֶל־הַיִּדְּעֹנִ֔ים אַל־תְּבַקְשׁ֖וּ לְטָמְאָ֣ה בָהֶ֑ם אֲנִ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Leviticus 19:31
- Leviticus 19:26“ ‘Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it. “ ‘Do not practice divination or seek omens.
- Leviticus 20:6“ ‘I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people.
- Exodus 22:18“Do not allow a sorceress to live.
- Deuteronomy 18:10Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,
- 1 Samuel 28:3Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.
- 2 Kings 17:17They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
- 2 Kings 21:6He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
- 1 Chronicles 10:13Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance,
- 2 Chronicles 33:6He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
- Isaiah 8:19When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
- Isaiah 29:4Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.
- Isaiah 47:13All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.
- Acts 8:11They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.
- Acts 13:6They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,
- Acts 16:16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.
- Acts 19:19A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
Commentaries on Leviticus 19:31
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 31Regard not them that have familiar spirits - The Hebrew word אבות oboth probably signifies a kind of engastromuthoi or ventriloquists, or such as the Pythoness mentioned Acts 16:16, Acts 16:18; persons who, while under the influence of their demon, became greatly inflated, as the Hebrew word implies, and gave answers in a sort of frenzy. See a case of this kind in Virgil, Aeneid, l. vi., ver. 46, etc.: - " - Deus ecce, Deus! cui talla fanti Ante fores…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 31The devotion of faith, which would manifest itself in obedience to the commandment to keep God‘s Sabbaths and to reverence His sanctuary Leviticus 19:30, is the true preservative against the superstition which is forbidden in this verse. The people whose God was Yahweh were not to indulge those wayward feelings of their human nature which are gratified in magical arts and pretensions. Compare Isaiah 8:19. Familiar spirits - literally, “bottles”. This…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 31mediums: Compare 1 Samuel 28:7–25. The Hebrew term for spiritists (yidde‘oni) comes from a root meaning "to know." It describes people who claim to have secret or occult knowledge and who try to communicate with the dead.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3131. Regard not them that have familiar spirits--The Hebrew word, rendered "familiar spirit," signifies the belly, and sometimes a leathern bottle, from its similarity to the belly. It was applied in the sense of this passage to ventriloquists, who pretended to have communication with the invisible world. The Hebrews were strictly forbidden to consult them as the vain but high pretensions of those impostors were derogatory to the honor of God and…Read the comment
Topics related to Leviticus 19:31
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Leviticus 19
- 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
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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