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.
Leviticus is a book of laws given to the ancient nation of Israel after they were freed from slavery in Egypt and were forming a new society under God's leadership. This verse commands that anyone acting as a medium or spiritist — someone who claims to communicate with the dead or access hidden knowledge through supernatural means — was to be put to death by stoning. The severity reflects the context: Israel was surrounded by neighboring cultures steeped in divination, spirit-communication, and occult practice, and these laws were meant to protect the community's spiritual integrity and keep them wholly dependent on God for guidance. This capital punishment was part of the theocratic covenant law given specifically to ancient Israel — it is not a universal command carried into the New Testament era, where grace and the indwelling Holy Spirit reframe how God's people are guided and corrected.
God, I'll be honest — sometimes I reach for anything that gives me certainty rather than trusting You with the questions I can't answer. Forgive me for looking for truth in places that can't actually hold it. You are the source. Help me come to You first. Amen.
This verse lands hard. The death penalty for consulting a medium feels almost unrecognizable compared to the Jesus who ate with outcasts and told a thief he'd be in paradise by sundown. But it's worth pausing to ask what's underneath the severity. Ancient Israel was being formed as a people radically dependent on God — not on oracles, not on the dead, not on ritual magic. The prohibition wasn't cruel for its own sake. It was about where a person turns when they desperately need to know what's true, what's coming, and what's real. We don't stone anyone today for visiting a psychic. But the deeper question underneath the ancient law still has teeth: where do you actually go when you need real answers? When you're 3 AM afraid about the future, when you want certainty badly enough to reach for almost anything — what do you reach for? God's concern in this law wasn't that the spirits were harmless. It was that turning there closed something off in His people — a door He wanted to walk through Himself. That's worth sitting with.
How does understanding that this law was given to a specific nation in a specific historical context help you read it more accurately — and what remains relevant beyond that context?
What do you think the underlying spiritual danger was that this prohibition was trying to guard against, beneath the specific practice of mediumship?
Does the Old Testament's severity in certain laws challenge your view of God? How do you hold that tension alongside the portrait of Jesus in the New Testament?
In what ways might people today — including Christians — seek certainty or answers from sources other than God when they're afraid or desperate? What drives that impulse?
Is there a question or fear you've been trying to resolve through every possible means except honestly bringing it to God? What would it look like to actually do that?
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Exodus 22:18
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
1 Samuel 15:23
Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:31
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
Deuteronomy 18:10
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:5
For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.
Leviticus 20:9
'A man or woman who is a medium [who pretends to consults the dead] or who is a spiritist shall most certainly be put to death, and be stoned with stones; their blood is on them.'"
AMP
“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.”
ESV
'Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones, their bloodguiltiness is upon them.''
NASB
“‘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.’”
NIV
‘A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.’ ”
NKJV
“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.”
NLT
"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."
MSG