Leviticus 20:27

27 " 'And a man or a woman, if a spirit of the dead or a spirit of divination is in them, they shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones--their blood [is] on them.'"

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

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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 And you shall distinguish between the clean and the unclean animal and between the unclean and the clean bird; and you shall not defile yourselves with the animal or with the bird or with anything that moves along the ground that I have set apart for you {as unclean}.

26 And you shall be holy for me, because I, Yahweh, [am] holy, and I have singled you out from the nations to be mine.

27 " 'And a man or a woman, if a spirit of the dead or a spirit of divination is in them, they shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones--their blood [is] on them.'"

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "the stone"