Leviticus 20:27

27 “ ‘A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.’ ”

Leviticus 20:27 in Other Translations

27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

27 "A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them."

27 “Men and women among you who act as mediums or who consult the spirits of the dead must be put to death by stoning. They are guilty of a capital offense.”

27 "A man or woman who is a medium or sorcerer among you must be put to death. You must kill them by stoning. They're responsible for their own deaths."

27 A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them.

27 "Every man or woman who is a medium or a psychic must be put to death. They must be stoned to death because they deserve to die."

27 A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned; their blood is on their own hands."

27 " 'Suppose a man or woman gets messages from those who have died. Or suppose a man or woman talks to the spirits of the dead. Then you must put that man or woman to death. You must kill them by throwing stones at them. Anything that happens to them will be their own fault.' "

Leviticus 20:27 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 20:27

A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit
Or the spirit of Python or divination, see ( Leviticus 19:31 ) ; such as the damsel had in ( Acts 16:16 ) ; a woman is here particularly mentioned, though before included in the above law; because, as Aben Ezra says, such sort of practices were more frequently committed by women; to which Maimonides

---

FOOTNOTES:

F12 adds another reason, because men have a natural clemency towards the female sex, and are not easily prevailed upon to put them to death; therefore the law says, "thou shall not suffer a witch to live", ( Exodus 22:18 ) ; or that is a wizard;
a knowing one, who pretends to a great deal of knowledge of things; as of lost or stolen goods, and even knowledge of things future, and imposes upon persons, and cheats them of their money they give for information: such shall surely be put to death:
and not spared through favour and affection: the death they are to be put to follows: they shall stone them with stones;
until they are dead; of the manner of stoning, (See Gill on Acts 7:58); their blood [shall be] upon them:
they are worthy of death, and they shall suffer it: this phrase following upon the former, the Jews ^F13 gather from hence, that, wherever it is used, it is to be understood of stoning; (See Gill on Leviticus 20:9).
F12 Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 37.
F13 Torat Cohanim in Yalcut in loc.

Leviticus 20:27 In-Context

25 “ ‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground—those that I have set apart as unclean for you.

26 You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

27 “ ‘A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.’ ”

Cross References

• 1. S Exodus 22:18
• 2. S Leviticus 19:31
• 3. S ver 2; S Leviticus 24:14