Topic
Teraphim
30 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 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 They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently.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.
- 2 Kings 23:24Easton · Smith
¶ Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written…
- Genesis 31:19Nave Used by Laban, stolen by Rachael (equivalent to a deed to all of Laban' s property, according to the Nuzi tablets)
And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.
- Genesis 31:30–35Nave Used by Laban, stolen by Rachael (equivalent to a deed to all of Laban' s property, according to the Nuzi tablets)
And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Peradventure thou wouldest take by force thy…
- Genesis 35:2–4Nave Condemned and disposed of by Jacob
Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the…
- Exodus 28:6–14Easton
¶ And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And the curious girdle…
- Judges 8:24–27Easton
¶ And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a…
- Judges 17:1–13Easton
And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.…
- Judges 17:3–5Smith
And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee. Yet…
- Judges 17:5Nave Used by Micah, stolen by the Danites
And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
- Judges 18:1–31Easton
In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. And the children of Dan sent of their…
- Judges 18:5Smith
And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
- Judges 18:6Smith
And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.
Show 18 more
- Judges 18:14 Nave Used by Micah, stolen by the Danites
- Judges 18:17 Smith
- Judges 18:17–20 Nave Used by Micah, stolen by the Danites
- Judges 18:18 Smith
- Judges 18:20 Smith
- 1 Samuel 15:22 Smith
- 1 Samuel 15:23 Smith
- 1 Samuel 19:13–16 Easton
- 1 Samuel 19:13 Smith
- 1 Samuel 19:16 Smith
- 1 Samuel 21:9 Easton
- 1 Samuel 23:6 Easton
- 1 Samuel 23:9 Easton
- 1 Samuel 30:7 Easton
- 1 Samuel 30:8 Easton
- Ezekiel 21:19–22 Smith
- Hosea 3:4 Easton
- Zechariah 10:2 Smith
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 12 references
Givers of prosperity, idols in human shape, large or small, analogous to the images of ancestors which were revered by the Romans. In order to deceive the guards sent by Saul to seize David, Michal his wife prepared one of the household teraphim, putting on it the goat’s-hair cap worn by sleepers and invalids, and laid it in a bed, covering it with a mantle. She pointed it out to the soldiers, and alleged that David was confined to his bed by a sudden illness (1 Sam. 19:13-16). Thus she gained time for David’s escape. It seems strange to read of teraphim, images of ancestors, preserved for superstitious purposes, being in the house of David. Probably they had been stealthily brought by Michal from her father’s house. “Perhaps,” says Bishop Wordsworth, “Saul, forsaken by God and possessed by the evil spirit, had resorted to teraphim (as he afterwards resorted to witchcraft); and God overruled evil for good, and made his very teraphim (by the hand of his own daughter) to be an instrument for David’s escape.”, Deane’s David, p. 32. Josiah attempted to suppress this form of idolatry (2 Kings 23:24). The ephod and teraphim are mentioned together in Hos. 3:4. It has been supposed by some (Cheyne’s Hosea) that the “ephod” here mentioned, and also in Judg. 8:24-27, was not the part of the sacerdotal dress so called (Ex. 28:6-14), but an image of Jehovah overlaid with gold or silver (comp. Judg. 17, 18; 1 Sam. 21:9; 23:6, 9; 30:7, 8), and is thus associated with the teraphim. (See THUMMIM.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 15 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 0 references
ter'-a-fim.
See ASTROLOGY; DIVINATION; IMAGES.
In the topical indexes
Nave's Topical Bible (1896) · 7 references, grouped by sub-topic
- → (Household idols)
- → Used by Laban, stolen by Rachael (equivalent to a deed to all of Laban' s property, according to the Nuzi tablets) Ge 31:19,30-35
- → Used by Micah, stolen by the Danites Jud 17:5; 18:14,17-20
- → Condemned and disposed of by Jacob Ge 35:2-4; with 31:35-39
- → Destroyed by Josiah
- See IDOLS
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.