Word study
Sorcery
3 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: sorcery, sorceries. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “sorcery” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- כֶּשֶׁף keshephsorcerytranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H3785Noun · Translated: sorceries 3, witchcraft 2, sorcery 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Isaiah 47:9 These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.
Micah 5:12 I will cut the sorceries from your hand, and you will have no fortune-tellers.
- עָנַן ânanpractice soothsayingtranslated this way 3 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H6049Verb · Translated: practiced sorcery 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Leviticus 19:26 You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.
2 Kings 21:6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- כָּשַׁף kâshaphpractice sorcerytranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H3784Verb · Translated: sorcerers 3, allow a sorceress 1, practices sorcery 1, witchcraft 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Deuteronomy 18:10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery,
Greek words (New Testament)
- φαρμακεία pharmakeíamagic, sorcery, enchantmenttranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5331Noun · Translated: sorcery 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Galatians 5:20 idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
Revelation 18:23 The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.”
- μαγεύω mageúōI practice sorcery or magictranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3096Verb · Translated: practiced sorcery 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 8:9 Prior to that time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and astounded the people of Samaria. He claimed to be someone great,
- μαγεία mageíamagictranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3095Noun · Translated: sorcery 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 8:11 They paid close attention to him because he had astounded them for a long time with his sorcery.
- φάρμακος phármakosa magician, sorcerertranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s G5333Noun · Translated: sorcerers 2, sorcery 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Revelation 9:21 Furthermore, they did not repent of their murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about sorcery: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.