Deuteronomy 18:10

The context

Deuteronomy 18 addresses Israel on the edge of the land, anticipating what they will find there. Verses 9 to 14 forbid learning the abominations of the surrounding nations and list them: divination, soothsaying, augury, sorcery, charming, consulting mediums and the dead. The passage then promises a prophet like Moses, whom the people are to hear instead.

What it establishes

The verses establish a boundary. Israel is to seek guidance from God's word and God's prophet, not from techniques that claim to extract the future or to reach the dead. The list is a catalogue of methods; it is not a theory about the powers those methods suppose.

What it does not establish

It does not settle every question about the practices named. The text forbids them without saying whether the powers are real or fraudulent, and other passages treat diviners as both dangerous and ineffective. Nor does this list by itself fix a penalty for each practice; that belongs to other statutes.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• If a father ever killed his own son he would—all things being equal—be rightly judged immoral. But according to Genesis 22, God told Abraham to kill his own son, and was judged righteous for his WILLINGNESS to do so. So God ordains child murder, huh?

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.