Reference: Magic
American
In the Bible, all the superstitious ceremonies of magicians, sorcerers, enchanters, necromancers, spiritualists, exorcists, astrologers, soothsayers, interpreters of dreams, fortune-tellers, casters of nativities, etc., which are all forbidden by the law of God, whether practiced to hurt or to benefit mankind. It was also forbidden to consult magicians on pain of death, Le 19:31; 20:6. See ENCHANTMENTS and SORCERERS.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Do not go after those who make use of spirits, or wonder-workers; do not go in their ways or become unclean through them: I am the Lord your God.
And whoever goes after those who make use of spirits and wonder-workers, doing evil with them, against him will my face be turned, and he will be cut off from among his people.
Easton
The Jews seem early to have consulted the teraphim (q.v.) for oracular answers (Jg 18:5-6; Zec 10:2). There is a remarkable illustration of this divining by teraphim in Eze 21:19-22. We read also of the divining cup of Joseph (Ge 44:5). The magicians of Egypt are frequently referred to in the history of the Exodus. Magic was an inherent part of the ancient Egyptian religion, and entered largely into their daily life.
All magical arts were distinctly prohibited under penalty of death in the Mosaic law. The Jews were commanded not to learn the "abomination" of the people of the Promised Land (Le 19:31; De 18:9-14). The history of Saul's consulting the witch of Endor (1Sa 28:3-20) gives no warrant for attributing supernatural power to magicians. From the first the witch is here only a bystander. The practice of magic lingered among the people till after the Captivity, when they gradually abandoned it.
It is not much referred to in the New Testament. The Magi mentioned in Mt 2:1-12 were not magicians in the ordinary sense of the word. They belonged to a religious caste, the followers of Zoroaster, the astrologers of the East. Simon, a magician, was found by Philip at Samaria (Ac 8:9-24); and Paul and Barnabas encountered Elymas, a Jewish sorcerer, at Paphos (Ac 13:6-12). At Ephesus there was a great destruction of magical books (Ac 19:18-19).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Is not this the cup from which my lord takes wine and by which he gets knowledge of the future? Truly, you have done evil.
Do not go after those who make use of spirits, or wonder-workers; do not go in their ways or become unclean through them: I am the Lord your God.
When you have come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, do not take as your example the disgusting ways of those nations. Let there not be seen among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter go through the fire, or anyone using secret arts, or a maker of strange sounds, or a reader of signs, or any wonder-worker, read more. Or anyone using secret force on people, or putting questions to a spirit, or having secret knowledge, or going to the dead for directions. For all who do such things are disgusting to the Lord; and because of these disgusting things the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You are to be upright in heart before the Lord your God. For these nations, whose land you are taking, give attention to readers of signs and to those using secret arts: but the Lord your God will not let you do so.
Then they said, Do get directions from God for us, to see if the journey on which we are going will have a good outcome. And the priest said to them, Go in peace: your way is guided by the Lord.
Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel, after weeping for him, had put his body in its last resting-place in Ramah, his town. And Saul had put away from the land all those who had control of spirits and who made use of secret arts. And the Philistines came together and put their forces in position in Shunem; and Saul got all Israel together and they took up their positions in Gilboa. read more. And when Saul saw the Philistine army he was troubled, and his heart was moved with fear. And when Saul went for directions to the Lord, the Lord gave him no answer, by a dream or by the Urim or by the prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, Get me a woman who has control of a spirit so that I may go to her and get directions. And his servants said to him, There is such a woman at En-dor. So Saul, putting on other clothing, so that he might not be seen to be the king, took two men with him and went to the woman by night; and he said, Now, with the help of the spirit which you have, make the person whose name I will give you come up. And the woman said to him, But you have knowledge of what Saul has done, how he has put away out of the land those who have control of spirits and the users of secret arts: why would you, by a trick, put me in danger of death? And Saul made an oath to her by the Lord, saying, By the living Lord, no punishment will come to you for this. Then the woman said, Who am I to let you see? And he said, Make Samuel come up for me. And the woman saw that it was Saul, and she gave a loud cry, and said to Saul, Why have you made use of deceit? for you are Saul. And the king said to her, Have no fear: what do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth. And he said to her, What is his form? And she said, It is an old man coming up covered with a robe. And Saul saw that it was Samuel, and with his face bent down to the earth he gave him honour. And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you made me come up, troubling my rest? And Saul in answer said, I am in great danger; for the Philistines are making war on me, and God has gone away from me and will no longer give me any answer, by the prophets or by dreams: so I have sent for you to make clear to me what I am to do. And Samuel said, Why do you put your questions to me, seeing that God has gone away from you and is on the side of him who is against you? And the Lord himself has done what I said: the Lord has taken the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbour David; Because you did not do what the Lord said, and did not give effect to his burning wrath against Amalek. So the Lord has done this thing to you today. And more than this, the Lord will give Israel up with you into the hands of the Philistines: and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me: and the Lord will give up the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. Then Saul went down flat on the earth, and was full of fear because of Samuel's words: and there was no strength in him, for he had taken no food all that day or all that night.
And you, son of man, have two ways marked out, so that the sword of the king of Babylon may come; let the two of them come out of one land: and let there be a pillar at the top of the road: Put a pillar at the top of the road for the sword to come to Rabbah in the land of the children of Ammon, and to Judah and to Jerusalem in the middle of her. read more. For the king of Babylon took his place at the parting of the ways, at the top of the two roads, to make use of secret arts: shaking the arrows this way and that, he put questions to the images of his gods, he took note of the inner parts of dead beasts. At his right hand was the fate of Jerusalem, to give orders for destruction, to send up the war-cry, to put engines of war against the doors, lifting up earthworks, building walls.
For the images have said what is not true, and the readers of signs have seen deceit; they have given accounts of false dreams, they give comfort to no purpose: so they go out of the way like sheep, they are troubled because they have no keeper.
Now when the birth of Jesus took place in Beth-lehem of Judaea, in the days of Herod the king, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is the King of the Jews whose birth has now taken place? We have seen his star in the east and have come to give him worship. read more. And when it came to the ears of Herod the king, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And he got together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, questioning them as to where the birth-place of the Christ would be. And they said to him, In Beth-lehem of Judaea; for so it is said in the writings of the prophet, You Beth-lehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the chiefs of Judah: out of you will come a ruler, who will be the keeper of my people Israel. Then Herod sent for the wise men privately, and put questions to them about what time the star had been seen. And he sent them to Beth-lehem and said, Go and make certain where the young child is; and when you have seen him, let me have news of it, so that I may come and give him worship. And after hearing the king, they went on their way; and the star which they saw in the east went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the young child was. And when they saw the star they were full of joy. And they came into the house, and saw the young child with Mary, his mother; and falling down on their faces they gave him worship; and from their store they gave him offerings of gold, perfume, and spices. And it was made clear to them by God in a dream that they were not to go back to Herod; so they went into their country by another way.
But there was a certain man named Simon, who in the past had been a wonder-worker and a cause of surprise to the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was a great man: To whom they all gave attention, from the smallest to the greatest, saying, This man is that power of God which is named Great. read more. And they gave attention to him, because for a long time his wonder-working powers had kept them under his control. But when they had faith in the good news given by Philip about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, a number of men and women had baptism. And Simon himself had faith and, having had baptism, he went with Philip and, seeing the signs and the great wonders which he did, he was full of surprise. Now when the Apostles at Jerusalem had news that the people of Samaria had taken the word of God into their hearts, they sent to them Peter and John; Who, when they came there, made prayer for them, that the Holy Spirit might be given to them: For up to that time he had not come on any of them; only baptism had been given to them in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they put their hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came on them. Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the touch of the Apostles' hands, he made them an offering of money, saying, Give me this power, so that when I put my hands on anyone he may get the Holy Spirit. But Peter said, May your money come to destruction with you, because you had the idea that what is freely given by God may be got for a price. You have no part in this business, because your heart is not right before God. Let your heart be changed, and make prayer to God that you may have forgiveness for your evil thoughts. For I see that you are prisoned in bitter envy and the chains of sin. And Simon, answering, said, Make prayer for me to the Lord, so that these things which you have said may not come on me.
And when they had gone through all the island to Paphos, they came across a certain wonder-worker and false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus; Who was with the ruler, Sergius Paulus, an able man. This man sent for Barnabas and Saul, desiring to have knowledge of the word of God. read more. But Elymas, the wonder-worker (for that is the sense of his name), put himself against them, with the purpose of turning the ruler from the faith. But Saul, whose other name is Paul, being full of the Holy Spirit, looking hard at him, said, O you, who are full of false tricks and evil ways, a son of the Evil One, hating all righteousness, will you for ever be turning people from the right ways of the Lord? And now, see, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind and not able to see the sun for a time. And straight away a dark mist came down on him; and he went about looking for a guide. Then the ruler, when he saw what was done, had faith, being full of wonder at the teaching of the Lord.
And a number of those who had faith came and made a public statement of their sins and all their acts. And a great number of those who were experts in strange arts took their books and put them on the fire in front of everyone: and when the books were valued they came to fifty thousand bits of silver.