Exodus 22:18 — Word Study
WLCמְכַשֵּׁפָ֖ה לֹ֥א תְחַיֶּֽה׃ ס
BSAallkôl to lie downshâkab withʻim animalbᵉhêmâh to diemûwth to diemûwth
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| מְכַשֵּׁפָ֖ה | a sorceress | Verb, Piel, participle (active) feminine singular |
| לֹ֥א | not | Particle |
| תְחַיֶּֽה׃ ס | you will let live | Verb, Piel, imperfect second person masculine singular |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | You must not allow a sorceress to live. |
| KJV | ¶ Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. |
| ASV | Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live. |
| YLT | 'A witch thou dost not keep alive. |
| WEB | “You shall not allow a sorceress to live. |
| BBE | Any woman using unnatural powers or secret arts is to be put to death. |
Where they part company is מְכַשֵּׁפָה — see How Translations Differ.
A single main clause commands a prohibition against a specific practice.
8 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them ›
clause
verbכֹּל
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Exodus 22:18
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — Laws Concerning Social Conductgenerated
Exodus 22:18 is part of a larger section that outlines various laws intended to guide the Israelites in their social and moral conduct. In this context, the prohibition against sorcery emphasizes the importance of faithfulness to God and the rejection of practices that could lead the community astray. This verse is situated among other laws that address issues of justice and morality, reflecting the serious nature of these commands.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leviticus 19:26–31 | You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery. |
| 2 | Leviticus 20:6–27 | Whoever turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute himself with them, I will also set My face against that person and cut him off from his people. |
| 3 | Deuteronomy 18:10–11 | Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery, |
| 4 | 1 Samuel 28:3–9 | Now by this time Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land. |
| 5 | Isaiah 19:3 | Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 10 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — מְכַשֵּׁפָה, me.kha.she.Fahgenerated
The word מְכַשֵּׁפָה (me.kha.she.Fah) is a feminine singular participle derived from the root כִּשֵּׁף (kashaph), which means to practice sorcery or witchcraft. This term indicates a woman who engages in magical practices, often with the intent to manipulate or control others.
The use of this word in the verse highlights the severity of the command against such practices, which were seen as a direct violation of the worship and loyalty owed to God. The act of sorcery is consistently condemned throughout the Scriptures, reinforcing the idea that such practices are incompatible with the covenant community.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, so the BSB is the wording every comparison below is made against.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The verse consists of a main clause with a finite verb, תְחַיֶּֽה (you will let live), which governs the object מְכַשֵּׁפָה (a sorceress) and is negated by לֹא (not). This structure clearly indicates the prohibition against allowing a sorceress to live.
The straightforward nature of this command reflects the gravity of the issue at hand, emphasizing the need for clear boundaries in the community regarding practices deemed unacceptable.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
In the Septuagint, the word מְכַשֵּׁפָה is rendered as πᾶν (all), which shifts the focus from the specific identity of the sorceress to a broader category of individuals engaged in such practices. This choice may reflect a more general condemnation of sorcery rather than a specific targeting of women.
This translation choice indicates an interpretation that encompasses all forms of sorcery, not just those practiced by women, thus broadening the scope of the command.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Exodus 22:18 states that a sorceress should not be allowed to live. This command reflects the serious stance against witchcraft and sorcery in the community, emphasizing the need to uphold faithfulness to God.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
A sorceress is a woman who practices witchcraft, using magic to try to control or manipulate others, which is condemned in the Bible.
This command reflects the seriousness of sorcery as a practice that leads people away from God and undermines the community's faith.
Yes, other passages such as Leviticus 19:26–31 and Deuteronomy 18:10–11 also condemn sorcery and witchcraft.
While the cultural context has changed, the underlying principle of rejecting practices that contradict faithfulness to God remains relevant.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What are some modern practices that could be seen as similar to sorcery?
- How can I ensure that my actions align with my faith and values?
- What role does community play in upholding moral standards?
- In what ways can I support others in rejecting harmful practices?
Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Exodus 22:18 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleThou shall not suffer a witch to live. Such that had familiar spirits, and conversed with them, and by means thereof got knowledge of many things relating to persons, at least pretending they did;
Read John Gill on Exodus 22 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryThou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live , [ mªkasheepaah (H3784)] - a practitioner in magic and incantations; a juggler, who pretended by skill in occult science to reveal future events.
Read Robert Jamieson on Exodus 22 →Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Biblei.e. Any person that is in league with the devil, and by his help either doth any mischief, or discovers and practices things above the reach of other men or women. Of which see . The word is of the feminine gender, partly because women are most prone to these devilish arts, and most frequently guilty of them; and partly to intimate that no pity should be showed to such offenders, though they were of the weaker sex.
Read Matthew Poole on Exodus 22 →John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New TestamentsExodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.Ver. 18. A witch.] An enchantress, sorceress, whose help was sometimes sought in enticing young maids to folly. The wizzard also is here meant, but the woman witch mentioned; both because women are more inclinable to that sin; and also because the weaker sex is not to be spared for this fault. Vatab. Junius.
Read John Trapp on Exodus 22 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(18) Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.—The word translated “witch” in this passage is the feminine singular of that rendered by “sorcerers” in Exodus 7:11, and means “a mutterer of charms.” The use of the feminine form can only be accounted for by supposing that, practically, witchcraft was at the time mainly professed by females. Whether “witches” had actual help from evil spirits, or only professed to work magical effects by their aid, the sin against God was the same. Jehovah was renounced, and a power other than His invoked and upheld. Witchcraft was as much rebellion against God as idolatry or blasphemy, and deserved the same punishment.
Read Charles John Ellicott on Exodus 22 →AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the BibleVerse 18. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.] If there had been no witches, such a law as this had never been made. The existence of the law, given under the direction of the Spirit of God, proves the existence of the thing. It has been doubted whether מכשפה mecash-shephah, which we translate witch, really means a person who practised divination or sorcery by spiritual or infernal agency. Whether the persons thus denominated only pretended to have an art which had no existence, or whether they really possessed the power commonly attributed to them, are questions which it would be improper to discuss at length in a work of this kind; but that witches, wizards, those who dealt with…
Read AdamClarke on Exodus 22 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges18. Magic and divination were practised extensively in the ancient world, as indeed they are still among uncivilised peoples and among the uneducated even in civilised countries: we have particularly abundant information respecting the practice of them in Assyria (see briefly the writer’s Daniel, in the Camb. Bible, p. 13 ff., more fully Jastrow, Relig. of Bab. and Ass. (1898), pp. 352–406). As inconsistent with the spirit the religion of Jehovah, as fostering superstition, and as associated commonly with heathen beliefs, they are condemned repeatedly in the OT.: see Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:6; Leviticus 20:27 (all H), and esp. Deuteronomy 18:10-11, locus classicus on the subject…
Read Cambridge on Exodus 22 →Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the BibleThou shalt not suffer a witch to live - See the marginal references. and Leviticus 20:27. The witch is here named to represent the class. This is the earliest denunciation of witchcraft in the law.
Read Albert Barnes on Exodus 22 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
You must not allow a sorceress to live.
“You shall not allow a sorceress to live.
You must not allow a sorceress to live.
“You must not allow a sorceress to live.
Tyndale line
¶ Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live.
Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live.
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to liue.
Strictly literal
— Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
'A witch thou dost not keep alive.
You do not keep a witch alive.
(22:17) Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
You must not allow a sorceress to live.
From the Latin
Wizards thou shalt not suffer to live.
Simplified
You must not allow a woman who practices witchcraft to live.
Any woman using unnatural powers or secret arts is to be put to death.
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text reads מְכַשֵּׁפָה לֹ֥א תְחַיֶּֽה׃ ס, which is consistent with the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch. Both agree with the prohibition against allowing a sorceress to live, maintaining the integrity of the command.
מְכַשֵּׁפָ֖ה לֹ֥א תְחַיֶּֽה׃ ס
3 of the 3 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
כל שׁכב עם בהמה מות יומת
Agrees with the Masoretic Text here, word for word.
[כול] [שוכב] [עם] [בהמה] [מות] [יומת]
nothing on the leather here — 6 supplied entire by an editor.
[כל] [שכב] [עם] [בהמה] מות יומת
1 word on the leather — 1 partly restored, 4 supplied entire by an editor.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Exodus 22:18
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
כִּשֵּׁף (kashaph) is a verb meaning to practice sorcery or witchcraft. It is derived from a primitive root that suggests whispering spells or enchanting. The entries consistently emphasize its connection to magic and sorcery, with references to sorcerers and witchcraft.
כִּשֵּׁף vb. Pi. denom. practice sorcery
base
H3784 כִּשֵּׁף vb. Pi. denom. practice sorcery
3784 kashaph kaw-shaf'
a primitive root; properly, to whisper a spell, i.e. to
inchant or practise magic:--sorcerer, (use) witch(-craft).
כָּשַׁף (ka.shaph) — to practice sorcery.
1) (Piel) to practice witchcraft or sorcery, use witchcraft
1a) sorcerer, sorceress (participle)
HVprfsa — Verb · Piel · participle (active) feminine singularHVprfsa
לֹא (lo') is a Hebrew word meaning 'not' or 'no.' It serves as a simple negation and can imply absence or prohibition. The word can also be used in various contexts, often combined with other particles for emphasis or clarification. Its Aramaic equivalent is לָא (la), which also means 'not.'
לֹא or לוֹא adv. not
base
H3808 לֹא or לוֹא not
3808 lo' lo
or lowi {lo}; or loh (Deut. 3:11) {lo}; a primitive particle;
not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often
used with other particles (as follows):--X before, + or else,
ere, + except, ig(-norant), much, less, nay, neither, never,
no((-ne), -r, (-thing)), (X as though...,(can-), for) not (out
of), of nought, otherwise, out of, + surely, + as truly as, +
of a truth, + verily, for want, + whether, without.
לֹא (lo) — not.
1) not, no
1a) not (with verb-absolute prohibition)
1b) not (with modifier-negation)
1c) nothing (subst)
1d) without (with particle)
1e) before (of time)
Aramaic equivalent: la (לָא "not" H3809)
HTn — ParticleHTn
חָיָה (chayah) is a Hebrew verb meaning to live or have life, encompassing both literal and figurative senses. It includes various nuances such as reviving, preserving life, and restoring health. The entries detail its use in different stems, with Qal focusing on living and being quickened, while Piel and Hiphil emphasize giving life and reviving. No specific verse references are provided.
חָיָה 283 vb. live
Qal 203
live
be quickened, revive
Pi.
preserve alive, let live
give life
quicken, revive, refresh
Hiph.
preserve alive, let live
quicken, revive
base
H2421 חָיָה live .. live
. be quickened, revive
. . preserve alive, let live
. give life
. quicken, revive, refresh
. . preserve alive, let live
. quicken, revive
2421 chayah khaw-yaw'
a primitive root (compare 2331, 2421); to live, whether
literally or figuratively; causatively, to revive:--keep
(leave, make) alive, X certainly, give (promise) life, (let,
suffer to) live, nourish up, preserve (alive), quicken,
recover, repair, restore (to life), revive, (X God) save
(alive, life, lives), X surely, be whole.
see HEBREW for 02331
see HEBREW for 02421
חָיָה (cha.yah) — to live.
1) to live, have life, remain alive, sustain life, live prosperously, live for ever, be quickened, be alive, be restored to life or health
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to live
1a1a) to have life
1a1b) to continue in life, remain alive
1a1c) to sustain life, to live on or upon
1a1d) to live (prosperously)
1a2) to revive, be quickened
1a2a) from sickness
1a2b) from discouragement
1a2c) from faintness
1a2d) from death
1b) (Piel)
1b1) to preserve alive, let live
1b2) to give life
1b3) to quicken, revive, refresh
1b3a) to restore to life
1b3b) to cause to grow
1b3c) to restore
1b3d) to revive
1c) (Hiphil)
1c1) to preserve alive, let live
1c2) to quicken, revive
1c2a) to restore (to health)
1c2b) to revive
1c2c) to restore to life
HVpi2ms — Verb · Piel · imperfect second person masculine singularHVpi2ms