Leviticus 19:26
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You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Holiness of Behaviour Towards God and Man. - However manifold the commandments, which are grouped together rather according to a loose association of ideas than according to any logical arrangement, they are all linked together by the common purpose expressed in Lev 19:2 in the words, "Ye shall be holy, for I am holy, Jehovah your God." The absence of any strictly logical arrangement is to be explained chiefly from the nature of the object, and the great variety of circumstances occurring in life which no casuistry can fully exhaust, so that any attempt to throw light upon these relations must consist more or less of the description of a series of concrete events.
Open source ↗Some ceremonial precepts there are in this chapter, but most of them are moral. One would wonder that when some of the lighter matters of the law are greatly enlarged upon (witness two long chapters concerning the leprosy) many of the weightier matters are put into a little compass: divers of the single verses of this chapter contain whole laws concerning judgment and mercy; for these are things which are manifest in every man's conscience; men's own thoughts are able to explain these, and to comment upon them. I. The laws of this chapter, which were peculiar to the Jews, are, 1. Concerning their peace-offerings (Lev 19:5-8). 2. Concerning the gleanings of their fields (Lev 19:9, Lev 19:10). 3. Against mixtures of their cattle, seed, and cloth (Lev 19:19). 4. Concerning their trees (Lev 19:23-25). 5. Against some superstitious usages (Lev 19:26-28). But, II. Most of these precepts are binding on us, for they are expositions of most of the ten commandments. 1. Here is the preface to the ten commandments, "I am the Lord," repeated fifteen times. 2. A sum of the ten commandments. All the first table in this, "Be you holy," (Lev 19:2). All the second table in this, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour" (Lev 19:18), and an answer to the question, "Who is my neighbour?" (Lev 19:33, Lev 19:34). 3. Something of each commandment. (1.) The first commandment implied in that which is often repeated here, "I am your God." And here is a prohibition of enchantment (Lev 19:26) and witchcraft (Lev 19:31), which make a god of the devil. (2.) Idolatry, against the second commandment, is forbidden, (Lev 19:4). (3.) Profanation of God's name, against the third (Lev 19:12). (4.) Sabbath-sanctification is pressed (Lev 19:3, Lev 19:30). (5.) Children are required to honour their parents (Lev 19:3),…
Open source ↗19:26 blood: See study note on 7:22-27. • Priests were permitted to consult the Urim and Thummim (Exod 28:30) or to cast lots (Lev 16:8) to help decide cases not covered by Mosaic regulations. However, those who practiced fortune-telling or witchcraft were actually consulting a power apart from the Lord, which was forbidden under the first commandment (Exod 20:3).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”
You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings.
This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens, though the nations themselves are terrified by them.
But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same things by their magic arts.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”
The astrologers answered the king, “No one on earth can do what the king requests! No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer.