Tree of Life Version
Leviticus 19:31
31“Do not turn to those who are mediums or to soothsayers. Do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am Adonai 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.
- New International Version (NIV)“ ‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will 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.
Context of Leviticus 19:31
29“Do not defile your daughter, to make her a prostitute, so that the land does not fall into prostitution, and become full of wickedness. 30“You are to keep My Shabbatot, and reverence My Sanctuary. I am Adonai. “Do not turn to those who are mediums or to soothsayers. Do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am Adonai your God. 32“You are to rise up in the presence of the gray-haired and honor the presence of the elderly. So you will fear your God. I am Adonai. 33“If an outsider dwells with you in your land, you shall do him no wrong.
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“You are not to eat any meat with the blood still in it, nor are you to use enchantments, or practice sorcery.
- Leviticus 20:6“The soul that turns to mediums or to soothsayers, prostituting himself with them, I will set My face against that soul and will cut him off from among his people.
- Exodus 22:18“Anyone who lies with an animal must surely be put to death.
- Deuteronomy 18:10There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or a fortune-teller, soothsayer, omen reader, or sorcerer,
- 1 Samuel 28:3Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah, his hometown. Saul had removed from the land those who were mediums and spiritists.
- 2 Kings 17:17and they made their sons and daughters pass through the fire, practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in Adonai’s eyes, to provoke Him.
- 2 Kings 21:6He also made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in Adonai’s eyes to provoke Him.
- 1 Chronicles 10:13So Saul died because of his unfaithful acts that he committed against the word of Adonai, which he did not keep, and he even consulted a medium for guidance
- 2 Chronicles 33:6Furthermore, he made his children pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom and practiced witchcraft, divination and sorcery, and consulted ghosts and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of Adonai, provoking Him to anger.
- Isaiah 8:19When they say to you: “Consult the mediums and necromancers who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people seek their God? Should a people consult the dead on behalf of the living?
- Isaiah 29:4You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground. From the dust where you are prostrate your speech will come. Your voice will be like a ghost out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust.
- Isaiah 47:13You are weary of your consultations. So many! So let the astrologers, star-gazers, predicting by new moons, stand up and save you from what will come upon you.
- Acts 8:11And they kept paying attention to him, because for a long time he had astonished them with his magical arts.
- Acts 13:6When they had gone throughout the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a man who was a magician—a Jewish false prophet, whose name was Bar-Yeshua.
- Acts 16:16It so happened that as we were going to prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination, who was bringing her masters much profit from her fortune-telling.
- Acts 19:19And many of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together in a heap, burning them before everyone. They totaled the value of the books and found it to be about fifty thousand pieces of silver.
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
Tree of Life Version — © 2015 The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Commentaries