Bible Strands
Leviticus 20:6
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses Israel through Moses during the wilderness covenant stipulations. He issues this warning immediately after condemning Molech worship and before commanding the people to consecrate themselves as holy.
The words — תִּפְנֶה (tifneh) translates literally as "it will turn," denoting a deliberate shift of allegiance. לִ/זְנ֖וֹת (li-znot) means "to act as a prostitute," describing the spiritual infidelity of pursuing occult intermediaries.
The thread — The text explicitly links this prohibition to Leviticus 19:31, Isaiah 8:19, and Leviticus 20:27. These passages collectively treat consultation with mediums and spiritists as a breach of covenant loyalty that invites divine judgment or execution.
Why it lands — The text states that anyone who turns to mediums or spiritists will face Yahweh's turned face and be cut off from his people. It requires readers to abandon occult practices and recognize that seeking alternative spiritual sources constitutes covenant treason.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 19:31 You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
- Isaiah 8:19 When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
- Leviticus 20:27 A man or a woman who is a medium or spiritist must surely be put to death. They shall be stoned; their blood is upon them.’”
- 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,
- 1 Chronicles 10:13 So Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance,
- Exodus 34:15 Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.
- Leviticus 19:26 You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.
- Numbers 15:39 These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.
- Psalms 73:27 Those far from You will surely perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.
- Ezekiel 6:9 Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations.