כָּשַׁף
kâshaph · H3784 · Hebrew · 6 occurrences
Meanings
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to practice sorcery
Action by which humans make an effort to gain control over humans, animals, or deities through rituals and incantations
Examples2 Chronicles 33:6 He also made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
Malachi 3:5 “Then I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, those who oppress the wage earner in his wages or the widow or the orphan, and those who turn away the stranger from justice and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of armies.
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sorcerer: sorceress
A person who has made it their profession to help humans gain control over (other) humans, animals, or deities through rituals and incantations
ExamplesExodus 7:11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they too, the soothsayer priests of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.
Exodus 22:18 “You shall not allow a sorceress to live.
Deuteronomy 18:10 “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, a soothsayer, one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
How it’s used In 3 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Who or what does itSubject
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- Not stated: he, she or it 1
What is done to itIt is the object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- חָיָהto be alive, to become alive, to live 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
3 occurrences in 2 groups
- לto/for 2
- בin/on/with 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 3 words
- עָנַן ʻânan · H6049 · to practice soothsaying, to practice divination, to tell fortunes
- Both words denote forbidden divination practices. The target term focuses on witchcraft or sorcery, while ענן (ʻânan, H6049) means to enchant, soothsay or observe times.
- קָסַם qâçam · H7080 · to practice divination
- Both words denote prohibited divination or sorcery practices in the Hebrew Bible. The target term refers to a witch or sorcerer, while קסם (qâçam, H7080) refers to a diviner or soothsayer; the practices overlap but are distinct.
- נָחַשׁ nâchash · H5172 · to divine, to practice divination, to use omens
- Both כָּשַׁף (kâshaph, H3784) (sorcery, witchcraft) and נחשׁ (nâchash, H5172) (divination, enchantment, augury) denote distinct divinatory practices in the sphere of occult, forbidden activities, and could substitute for one another when describing prohibited magical practices.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Divination002003003009
- This word means to practice sorcery or witchcraft, an illicit means of divination, so it belongs among words for divination.
- Professions001001003009
- The same word is also used substantivally for one who practices sorcery, a forbidden trade or profession, so it also belongs among terms for trades.
Word family 3 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H3784. kashaph כִּשֵּׁף verb Pi`el denominative practice sorcery (Assyrian kašâpu, id.);…
כִּשֵּׁף verb Pi`el denominative practice sorcery (Assyrian kašâpu, id.); — Perfect3masculine singular: וְיִדְּעוֺנִ֑י אוֺב וְעָשָׂה וְכִשֵּׁף וְנִחֵשׁ וְעוֺנֵן2Ch 33:6 (of Manasseh); elsewhere only Participle as substantive masculine singular sorcerer, in Israel, מְכַשֵּׁף Deu 18:10 (following וּמְנַחֵשׁ מְעוֺנֵן קְסָמִים קֹסֵם); feminine singular מְכַשֵּׁפָה = sorceress Exo 22:17 (E); masculine plural מְכַשְּׁפִים Mal 3:5 (named with adulterers and falseswearers); of diviners, or astrologers in Egypt (חַרְטֻמִּים q. v.) Exo 7:11 (P; || חֲכָמִים); in Babylon Dan 2:2 (+ כַּשְׂדִּים אַשָּׁפִים, חַרְטֻמִּים,).
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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