📖 Biblical Definition
The practice of seeking, channeling, or exercising supernatural power through means other than God — familiar spirits, drugs, charms, curses, divination tools, occult rituals. Scripture's prohibitions are repeated and capital: Exodus 22:18 (Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live), Leviticus 19:31 and 20:6 (against mediums and familiar spirits), Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (a comprehensive listing forbidden as abomination). In the New Testament, witchcraft (pharmakeia) is named in the list of works of the flesh that exclude from the kingdom (Gal 5:20-21) and among the deeds those outside the New Jerusalem persist in (Rev 21:8; 22:15). The category is not extinct; it has migrated into Wicca, New Age practice, channeling, crystal-and-energy spirituality, and the broader occult-curious culture.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Supernatural power sought through means other than God; Ex 22:18 capital prohibition; NT pharmakeia on the kingdom-exclusion list.
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WITCHCRAFT, n. Old English wiccecraeft. The practice of seeking or exercising supernatural power through means other than God: familiar spirits, drugs (NT pharmakeia), charms, curses, occult rituals, divination tools. Scripture's prohibitions span both testaments: Exodus 22:18 (capital), Leviticus 19:31 and 20:6 (mediums and familiar spirits, with the soul-cutting-off penalty), Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (comprehensive listing as abomination), Galatians 5:20-21 (kingdom-exclusion), Revelation 21:8 and 22:15 (outside the New Jerusalem). Modern forms: Wicca, New Age, channeling, energy-work, occult-curious spirituality of every kind.
📖 Key Scripture
Exodus 22:18 — "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 — "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, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD."
Galatians 5:19-21 — "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these... Idolatry, witchcraft... they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
Revelation 21:8 — "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
A repeatedly-prohibited capital category is now retailed as spirituality, wellness, self-care, or ancestral wisdom.
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The modern category-shift is one of the clearest in the culture. The exact practices Deuteronomy 18:10-12 lists as abomination — divination, observing times, charms, familiar spirits, consulting the dead — are now retailed at the mall as wellness, spirituality, self-care, ancestral wisdom, energy-work. The vocabulary has changed; the practice has not.
Scripture treats the category with capital seriousness in the OT and kingdom-exclusion seriousness in the NT. The Christian response is not panicked or superstitious; it is decisive. Throw out the tarot deck, the crystals used for energy, the horoscope app, the ancestral-veneration practices. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men. (Acts 19:19) The Ephesian church did not baptize the occult; they burned its tools. That is still the pattern.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Old English wiccecraeft; Hebrew m'khashefah; Greek pharmakeia.
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['Hebrew', 'H3784', 'kashaph', 'to practice sorcery (Ex 22:18)']
['Greek', 'G5331', 'pharmakeia', 'sorcery, witchcraft, magic potion (Gal 5:20)']
['Hebrew', 'H7080', 'qasam', 'to practice divination (Deut 18:10)']
Usage
"Modern wellness spirituality is the new retail face of the old Deut 18:10-12 list."
"The Ephesian pattern is burn the tools (Acts 19:19), not baptize them."
"Galatians 5:20-21 puts witchcraft on the kingdom-exclusion list. Take it seriously."