Topic
Charmer
6 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1897 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 They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently.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.
- Deuteronomy 18:11Easton
Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
- Psalms 58:5Easton
Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
- Ecclesiastes 10:11Easton
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
- Isaiah 3:3Easton
The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
- Isaiah 19:3Easton
And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
- Jeremiah 8:17Easton
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 6 references
One who practises serpent-charming (Ps. 58:5; Jer. 8:17; Eccl. 10:11). It was an early and universal opinion that the most venomous reptiles could be made harmless by certain charms or by sweet sounds. It is well known that there are jugglers in India and in other Eastern lands who practise this art at the present day.
In Isa. 19:3 the word “charmers” is the rendering of the Hebrew ’ittim, meaning, properly, necromancers (R.V. marg., “whisperers”). In Deut. 18:11 the word “charmer” means a dealer in spells, especially one who, by binding certain knots, was supposed thereby to bind a curse or a blessing on its object. In Isa. 3:3 the words “eloquent orator” should be, as in the Revised Version, “skilful enchanter.”
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.