Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.

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מְכַשֵּׁפָה לֹא תְחַיֶּה ס
^this is a paragraph marker so
מְכַשֵּׁפָה לֹא תְחַיֶּה

first word (from the right)
מְכַשֵּׁפָה
root
כָּשַׁף kashaph
to whisper so a whisperer
it is the word used for magician in Daniel 2:2

second word is non controversial לֹא (lo) is not.

the root of the last word is חָיַה (chayah)
to revive.

I think at worst it should be translated as a DNR for witchs.
but is could be a prohibition on whisperers (gossips)

funny enough google translate renders it (from modern hebrew) as

I am thinking the intention was don't help witches or employ them.
too bad so many people had to burn over a little verse.

The correct interpretation may mean banishment rather than the death penalty. I cannot believe that the bible would demand the death penalty for an astrology reading. However if human sacrifice is involved that would be a different story.

I can't speak about fortune tellers in the ancient Middle east, but among my pre-Christian ancestors in Europe, it was common to disembowel a human sacrifice, and for the Godi, Druid, or whatever you want to call the holy man to attempt reading future events in the bloody innards.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I was taught that it means a person shouldn't seek help from a witch, even if the person's life depended upon the help from a witch.

The salem wtich trials in my view really had more to do with blame then it did with religion its so sad that non of those people practiced witchcraft yet where accused and burned to the stake its not right at all

You mean "dont suffer [ the company] of a witch..." for the purpose of you yourself to surive ( ie "to live")?

Youve gotta be joking.

Thats an unlikely meaning to put into the phrase.

As rendered into English it can only mean that "witches are so evil that they are pathetic and killing them is the right because it puts them out of their misery (like putting down an animal)."

The infinitive for resuscitate. Revive is not a good translation. Better would be to enable to live since the biblical Hebrew is in the causative binyan

is להחיות

Kraichgauer, I know what you're talking about actually, I knew the french term from a heroic fantasy comic book, but I forgot about it. -.- Can't even find the bloody (secondary) character on the internet. >:^(

I think that is called Haruspex or Anthropomancy

Anthropomancy is divination by human sacrifice (details are best left unsaid).

Extispicy is the practice of using anomalies in animal entrails to predict or divine future events.

Haruspicy is the inspection of the entrails of sacrificed animals, especially the livers of sacrificed sheep and poultry.

Wikipedia has an article on Methods of Divination.

Personally, I think that if any one of the methods described actually worked, it would be the only method being practiced; and since all forms of divination have been or are still being practiced, it is safe to say that none of them actually work. Besides, there is no valid material evidence to support any claim that any method of divination actually works - it's all in the minds of the believers.

This view may be correct, but I cannot say for sure. The choice of Hebrew for a death sentence is usually more explicit than this. It could however mean a death sentence, I don't really know. All I can say for certain is that the OT prescribes death for punishment, as does the NT, what was revoked however was our ability to judge the difference in others. The Parable of the Tares explicitly forbids such actions; it is the only Parable Jesus explained in full detail. This view is supported also in Mat 7:1-5 and in many other places.

Haruspex is closer to what I remember. Thanks Vigilans. I think it's known as "haruspice" in french, but i'm not quite sure.

Bierce also writes about the "organ of common-sense" in his "Fantastic Fables" (page 144) with
"From The Minutes""The number of men known to me who are not in some important respects fools"

No, my Gods say, for the modern day, psychiatrists don't want the competition, especially with the "spectrum of autism". Spectrums: "The Mind Game: Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists" E. Fuller Torrey (1972). How many spectres are in any spectrum? Or am I on the wrong planet again?

Tadzio

What do you call a 17th century girl who is good at math?


WITCH!! !

In all honesty, it probably depended where the girl in the 17th century lived, and what her religious environment entailed.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Margaret Cavendish