Here are chapters and verses from the Bible that mention or address witchcraft, sorcery, or similar practices:
Old Testament
- Exodus 22:18 – “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.”
- Leviticus 19:26 – “Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it. Do not practice divination or seek omens.”
- Leviticus 19:31 – “Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for they will defile you. I am the Lord your God.”
- 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.”
- Leviticus 20:27 – “A man or a woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their heads.”
- Deuteronomy 18:10-12 – “Let 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, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.”
- 1 Samuel 15:23 – “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
- 1 Samuel 28:7-9 – “Saul then said to his attendants, ‘Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.’ ‘There is one in Endor,’ they said. So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. ‘Consult a spirit for me,’ he said, ‘and bring up the one I name for me.’ But the woman said to him, ‘Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?'”
- 2 Kings 21:6 – “He sacrificed his 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.”
- 2 Chronicles 33:6 – “He 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 8:19 – “When 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 47:12-13 says, “Keep on, then, with your magic spells and your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will cause terror. All 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.”
- Micah 5:12 – “I will destroy your witchcraft and you will no longer cast spells.”
New Testament
- Acts 8:9-11 – “Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, ‘This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.’ They followed him because his sorcery had amazed them for a long time.”
- Acts 13:6-8 – “They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The intelligent proconsul sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.”
- Galatians 5:19-21 – “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. As I did before, I warn you that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
- Revelation 9:21 – “Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
- Revelation 18:23 – “The lamp’s light will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world’s important people. By your magic spell, all the nations were led astray.”
- Revelation 21:8 – “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
- Revelation 22:15 – “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
These passages reflect the Bible’s stance against witchcraft, sorcery, and practices associated with magic, emphasizing reliance on God rather than on occult practices or supernatural forces outside of His will.