Bible Verses about Witchcraft

In the lands of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, where mysticism was a fabric of daily life, a practice brewed that would go on to spur divisive debates and ignite countless flames, literally and metaphorically. It was an era where sorcerers whispered secrets into the ears of kings and queens, guiding fate from shadowy corners of grand palaces. But among a people set apart, a stringent code was laid down, an edict etched in stone that bore a heavy warning against consorting with the purveyors of witchcraft. Exodus 22:18 resounds as a thunderclap, a stark injunction: “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.”

As the Israelites journeyed through tumultuous landscapes both geographical and spiritual, a fierce God sought to steer them away from the enchantments that swirled in the culture of the time. Sorcery, divination, and witchcraft were seen not merely as transgressions but detestable acts that bore severe consequences. This theme reverberates through the narratives in both Leviticus and Deuteronomy, where mediums, necromancers, and fortune-tellers are consistently rejected. The narratives build on a foundation of opposition to practices rooted in the spiritual underworld, giving a clarion call to maintain purity and uphold the sanctity of a God-driven life.

The Biblical narrative paints a vivid tapestry where the struggle between divine mandates and the temptation of sorcery plays out in dramatic vistas. Kings like Saul, who once stood tall and favored by God, saw their downfall interwoven with disobedience and alliances with the occult, consulting mediums in desperate attempts to glean knowledge of the future, a tragic defiance depicted in 1 Samuel 28:7. Yet, within this somber panorama of power and tragic downfalls, echoes a steadfast warning against the embracing of sorcerous paths, a call to adhere to a higher moral ground, and to seek guidance not from the whispers of sorcerers but from the words of the divine, a God who demands reverence and singular devotion. It is a narrative of warning, guidance, and the ever-present choice between the path of divine righteousness and the perilous road of sorcery, a choice that underpins the dramatic narratives flowing through the annals of biblical history.

Witchcraft Condemned

Exodus 22:18

You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12

There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.

Micah 5:12

And I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;

Nahum 3:4

Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that sells nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

Galatians 5:19-21

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Warnings Against Sorcery

Leviticus 19:31

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.

Leviticus 20:6

If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

1 Samuel 15:23

For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.

Examples of Witchcraft in the Bible

1 Samuel 15:23

For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.

1 Samuel 28:7

Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "Behold, there is a medium at Endor."

2 Kings 21:6

And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

2 Chronicles 33:6

And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

Isaiah 8:19

And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

Isaiah 19:3

And the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers.

Isaiah 47:9

But these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries, in spite of the great power of your enchantments.

Isaiah 47:12

Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror.

Jeremiah 27:9

So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’

Micah 5:12

And I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes.

Acts 8:9-11

But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is the power of God that is called Great."

Acts 13:6

When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.

Acts 19:19

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Revelation 18:23

And the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.

Consequences of Witchcraft

Galatians 5:19-20

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions.

Revelation 21:8

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

Repentance from Witchcraft

Acts 19:18-19

Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

A Prayer of Repentance from Witchcraft

Heavenly Father, the Creator of all things, seen and unseen,

We come before You today to acknowledge Your sovereignty and Your goodness. You are the one true God, the source of all wisdom and understanding. We renounce all forms of witchcraft, sorcery, and reliance on mediums, recognizing that these practices are abhorrent in Your sight.

We ask for Your protection, Lord, from the deceit and allure of the dark paths that beckon with false promises and illusions. You have called us to walk in the light of Your truth, to rely wholly on Your wisdom and guidance.

We pray for discernment, dear God, to identify and resist the influences that seek to draw us away from You. Give us the strength to reject any form of divination, and the wisdom to seek counsel only from Your holy word.

Father, we pray for those who are entrapped in the bondage of witchcraft, that You may open their eyes to the truth and set them free from the chains that bind them. May they find salvation and hope in You.

We thank You for Your word, which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Help us to anchor our lives on the rock-solid foundation of Your truth, standing firm against the shifting sands of deceit that this world offers.

As we navigate through life, may we always be guided by Your spirit, constantly drawing from the well of Your wisdom, and finding refuge under the shadow of Your wings.

In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.