Deuteronomy 18:10-11
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The list of forbidden practices isn't just about what not to do, but a powerful statement about whose counsel God wants His people to seek: only His. It slams the door shut on any attempt to gain hidden knowledge or control over the future through manipulative or superstitious means.
There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead,
English Standard Version (ESV)
As Israel prepares to enter and conquer the Promised Land, God issues a stern warning against adopting the wicked practices of the Canaanite nations they are displacing. This passage directly follows the instructions for establishing justice and leadership, emphasizing that right living includes separating themselves from pagan rituals that involve child sacrifice and various forms of divination and sorcery. God makes it clear that these practices are detestable to Him and were a primary reason for the destruction of the peoples already inhabiting the land.
This verse starts with a practice so horrific it’s hard to comprehend: offering children to gods. What does this extreme act reveal about the spiritual dangers God warns against?
The very first prohibition in Deuteronomy 18:10 is the most shocking: "There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering." This refers to the abhorrent practice of child sacrifice, often to the pagan god Moloch. This wasn't just a minor offense; it was an act of extreme cruelty and a complete perversion of parental love and God's command to protect the vulnerable.
A Devastating Perversion
Ask a follow-up
Beyond child sacrifice, the verse lists several practices related to seeking hidden knowledge. Why would God forbid these specific methods of gaining information?
Deuteronomy 18:10 continues by listing various forms of divination and sorcery: "anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer." These practices all revolve around seeking knowledge or future outcomes through means other than God's direct revelation.
The Danger of Illicit Insight
Understand the original words
qesem · Hebrew Noun
The act of attempting to obtain secret knowledge or divine guidance through supernatural or occult means, forbidden by God because it seeks knowledge apart from His revealed word and providence.
kashaph · Hebrew Verb/Noun
One who engages in occult arts, spells, or witchcraft to influence events or gain forbidden power, acting in direct rebellion against God's sovereign control.
chabar · Hebrew Noun
A person who practices magic, spells, or incantations to influence events or people; biblically forbidden as it seeks power outside of God’s authority.
yidde'oniy · Hebrew Noun
One who acts as a channel or intermediary for spirits; biblically prohibited because it involves seeking forbidden supernatural knowledge rather than relying on God.
doresh el-hametim · Hebrew Noun Phrase
A person who claims to communicate with the spirits of the dead, usually to obtain hidden knowledge or guidance; strictly forbidden in Scripture as a form of rebellion against God.
This passage directly prohibits offering one's children to Molech by passing them through fire, which is the specific abomination mentioned first in Deuteronomy 18:10.
Galatians 5:19-21The Apostle Paul lists 'witchcraft' as a work of the flesh, aligning with Deuteronomy's condemnation of sorcery and enchantments, showing how these practices are contrary to a life pleasing to God.
1 Samuel 15:23This verse equates rebellion against God's word with the sin of divination and stubbornness with the sin of idolatry, highlighting that the forbidden practices in Deuteronomy are fundamentally acts of defiance against God's authority.
Isaiah 8:19This passage directly addresses those who 'consult the dead' and 'seek guidance from spirits and ghosts' instead of seeking God, directly paralleling the prohibition against divination and seeking forbidden knowledge in Deuteronomy.
Acts 16:16-18This New Testament account shows Paul casting out a spirit of divination from a slave girl, demonstrating the ongoing reality and spiritual danger of these practices, and God's power to liberate from them.
gillDeuteronomy 18:10: "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,"
There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire,.... To Moloch, which was a sort of lustration by fire, two fires being made, and the child led by a priest between them, and which was an initiation of him into the religion of that deity,…
pooleDeuteronomy 18:10: "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,"
To pass through the fire; either by a superstitious lustration or purgation, or by a cruel sacrificing of them. See Leviticus 18:21 2 Kings 17:31 23:10 2 Chronicles 28:3 Psalm 106:37 Jeremiah 7:31 19:5 Ezekiel 16:20,21 Eze 23:37-39 . That useth divination, i.e. foretelleth things secret or to…
The list of forbidden practices isn't just about what not to do, but a powerful statement about whose counsel God wants His people to seek: only His. It slams the door shut on any attempt to gain hidden knowledge or control over the future through manipulative or superstitious means.
As Israel prepares to enter and conquer the Promised Land, God issues a stern warning against adopting the wicked practices of the Canaanite nations they are displacing. This passage directly follows the instructions for establishing justice and leadership, emphasizing that right living includes separating themselves from pagan rituals that involve child sacrifice and various forms of divination and sorcery. God makes it clear that these practices are detestable to Him and were a primary reason for the destruction of the peoples already inhabiting the land.
As Israel prepares to enter and conquer the Promised Land, God issues a stern warning against adopting the wicked practices of the Canaanite nations they are displacing. This passage directly follows the instructions for establishing justice and leadership, emphasizing that right living includes separating themselves from pagan rituals that involve child sacrifice and various forms of divination and sorcery. God makes it clear that these practices are detestable to Him and were a primary reason for the destruction of the peoples already inhabiting the land.
"There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires…" — The list of forbidden practices isn't just about what not to do, but a powerful statement about whose counsel God wants His people to seek: only His. It slams the door shut on any attempt to gain h…
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Last reviewed October 2026
