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 2002 by David W. Daniels
Question: I have heard that the passage in Exodus which reads "Suffer not a witch to live" was a mistranslation and that instead of "witch" it should have read "poisoner." Is this true?

Answer: No, it's not true. The King James Bible is absolutely correct. The words in their widest use simply refer to a witch or a sorcerer. And the ancient languages Akkadian and Ugaritic prove this. Here are two commonly used sources that verify this:

Strong’s Concordance
kashaph {kaw-shaf'}, Strong’s number 3784.

“Meaning: 1) to practice witchcraft or sorcery, use witchcraft 1a) sorcerer, sorceress
Origin: a primitive root; properly, to whisper a spell, i.e. to inchant or practise magic"

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

1051.0   use witchcraft.

(1051a)   witchcraft.

(1051b)   sorcerer.

The author of the article writes1:

“This verb and its related nouns mean the same as the Akkadian  and the Ugaritic  (sorcery)...

“The pharaoh of the exodus had those who practiced this variety of the occult in his retinue of advisers (Exodus 7:11). They are grouped with the  (wise men) and  (see “magicians”).

“These sorcerers were outlawed in Israel. In Exodus 22:17 the feminine form appears  and in the long list of Deut 18:10 the masculine  the penalty was death.

“Among the sins of King Manasseh was witchcraft (2 Chronicles 33:6). This is the only occurrence of the finite verb form.

“Another occurrence of the participle is in Daniel 2:2. Like the pharaoh, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned his "sorcerers" along with his "magicians"  enchanters  and Chaldeans

“Malachi saw these sorcerers being judged in the end along with adulterers, liars, and oppressors of widows, orphans, and foreigners (Malachi 3:5).

" Witchcraft, sorcery, soothsayer, spell. This masculine noun occurs six times in the OT, always in the plural (2 Kings 9:22; Isaiah 47:9, 12; Micah 5:12 [twice in Nahum 3:4).

" Occurs only once, Jeremiah 27:9, "sorcerer."

What is the Hebrew word for Poisoner?

Actually, there is no word for “poisoner” in Hebrew. However, there are two words for “poison”.

2534  chemah {khay-maw'}, translated “poison” in Deuteronomy 32:24,33; Job 6:4; Psalm 58:4 and 140:3.

7219  ro'sh {roshe}, translated “poison” in Job 20:16 or  rowsh {roshe}, translated “gall” in Deuteronomy 29:18; 32:32; Psalm 69:21; Jeremiah 8:14; 9:15; 23:15; Lamentations 3:5, 19 and Amos 6:12.

We do not have to try to find “deeper” meanings in the Greek or Hebrew. God has seen to it that we have a clear translation in His preserved words in English, the King James Bible. May God bless you as you read and trust Him to open your understanding.

1 I have edited out or simplified some of the technical words and terms in this article.

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 http://www.chick.com/ask/articles/witch.asp

...sigh

Personally, I wouldn't trust Jack Chick's advice on anything. In this case, it's possibly right (seems to be quoting someone else), but very often it's wrong.

Keep looking.....

http://logosresourcepages.org/w-define.html
http://www.awarenessshop.com/KnowledgeBase/biblicalreferenc.html
http://misslink.org/chapel/askaminister/religion/thedead.html
http://www.cybertrails.com/churchofchrist/articles/otherpeople.htm

If the answer matches biblically, AND if these websites all have the same opinion as the chicktrac then it's probably right.

Never trust one source, except God.

Gracey
(ps: I didn't read through all these, so I have no idea what your outcome will be)

I L-O-V-E Jack Chick :)






(http://www.sirinet.net/~blkidps/blgif1.gif)

Yeah, I know. But even you will have to admit that he's not always right...

 What is wrong with Jack Chick? personally i never heard of it until now about the website i was only going by what i could find on the info and if it looked credible or not so the only thing to make sure is right is to look up the hebrew word that Jack Chick, posted on his site to see how credible it is. But it seems to me that it makes sense in what he said. There just wasn't much info about this when i was looking for it this morning.

Michael

I guess the answer to "what is wrong with Jack Chick" is entirely dependent on your point of view. These "chick tracts" (a small selection) are not something I would want to hand to anyone as a witness tool....

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1000/1000_01.asp

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0074/0074_01.asp

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0273/0273_01.asp

There are many ways to witness; people do things in different ways...but one doesn't have to be rude to do it and you don't have to put others down in order to do it. Perhaps it's not so much that his "biblical" references are wrong (although I happen to feel there are some questionable areas, but that's only my opinion) but Jesus Christ can certainly outshine any chicktract, all on His own. Why give someone rudeness, when you can give them Christ?

Gracey