Leviticus 19:31
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
31 Do not turn to ghosts or consult spirits, by which you will be defiled.(A) I, the Lord, am your God.
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Leviticus 20:27
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
27 A man or a woman who acts as a medium or clairvoyant(A) shall be put to death. They shall be stoned to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.
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Deuteronomy 18:10-12
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
10 (A)Let there not be found among you anyone who causes their son or daughter to pass through the fire,[a] or practices divination, or is a soothsayer, augur, or sorcerer, 11 or who casts spells, consults ghosts and spirits, or seeks oracles from the dead. 12 Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the Lord, and because of such abominations the Lord, your God, is dispossessing them before you.(B)
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- 18:10–11 Causes their son or daughter to pass through the fire: to Molech. See note on Lv 18:21. Such human sacrifices are classed here with various occult and magical practices because they were believed to possess powers for averting a calamity; cf. 2 Kgs 3:27. Three other categories of magic are listed here: divination of the future (by a soothsayer or augur); black magic (by a sorcerer or one who casts spells); and necromancy (by one who consults ghosts and spirits, or seeks oracles from the dead to divine the future).
2 Kings 21:6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
6 He immolated his child by fire. He practiced soothsaying and divination, and reintroduced the consulting of ghosts and spirits.
He did much evil in the Lord’s sight and provoked him to anger.(A)
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1 Chronicles 10:13-14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
13 [a]Thus Saul died because of his treason against the Lord in disobeying his word, and also because he had sought counsel from a ghost,(A) 14 rather than from the Lord. Therefore the Lord took his life, and turned his kingdom over to David, the son of Jesse.(B)
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- 10:13–14 The Chronicler explains why Saul met his tragic end: he had disobeyed the Lord’s command given through the prophet Samuel (1 Sm 15:3–9), and had consulted a necromancer (1 Sm 28:6–19), contrary to the Mosaic law (Dt 18:10–11).
Acts 16:16
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Imprisonment at Philippi. 16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl with an oracular spirit,[a] who used to bring a large profit to her owners through her fortune-telling.
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- 16:16 With an oracular spirit: literally, “with a Python spirit.” The Python was the serpent or dragon that guarded the Delphic oracle. It later came to designate a “spirit that pronounced oracles” and also a ventriloquist who, it was thought, had such a spirit in the belly.
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