Topic
Bewitch
4 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Acts 8:9ISBE
But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:
- Acts 8:21ISBE
Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
- Galatians 3:1ISBE
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
- 1 Timothy 6:20ISBE
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 4 references
be-wich' (existemi): There are two Greek words in the New Testament translated "bewitch." The one given above (Ac 8:9,21 the King James Version "bewitched," the Revised Version (British and American) "amazed") has reference to the work of Simon Magus. It means "to be out of one's mind," "to astonish," "to overwhelm with wonder." The other word, baskaino (Ga 3:1), means "to fascinate by false representation." It is by this means the apostle complains they have been led to accept a teaching wholly contrary to the gospel of Christ. Both these words reveal to us something of the difficulty the early teachers had to eradicate the idea so widely held by the Jews and Egyptians especially, that there were certain powers, dark and mysterious, which by certain occult forces they could control. For a long time this had to be contended with as one of the corrupt practices brought into the church by the converts, both from Judaism and heathenism. These words have a reference to the evil eye which for centuries was, and even today is, an important factor in the life of the people of the East. 1Ti 6:20 is a reference to this thought and explains the word "science" (the King James Version) as there used.
See DIVINATION; EVIL EYE; SORCERY; SUPERSTITION.
Jacob W. Kapp
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.