Abominable Practices
Deuteronomy 18:9-13
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Deu.18.9 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- בא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- אשר: PRON,rel
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- נתן: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- תלמד: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לעשות: VERB,qal,inf
- כתועבת: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- הגוים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- ההם: PRON,dem,m,pl
Parallels
- Leviticus 18:3 (verbal): Explicit prohibition not to imitate the practices of the nations (similar wording forbidding doing as they do and avoiding their unlawful sexual/ritual practices).
- Leviticus 20:23 (thematic): States that the land is defiled by the nations' abominations and commands Israel not to adopt their statutes—echoes Deut 18:9's concern about adopting abhorrent practices.
- Deuteronomy 12:29-31 (verbal): Directly parallels the warning not to inquire after or imitate the detestable practices of the inhabitants of the land (similar vocabulary and motive).
- Exodus 34:12-16 (thematic): Warns Israel not to make covenants with Canaanites or serve their gods; links adoption of foreign worship to turning to abominations, thematically close to Deut 18:9.
- Joshua 23:7 (allusion): Joshua's charge to avoid intermarriage and foreign gods reiterates Deuteronomic prohibition against associating with and adopting the nations' abominations.
Alternative generated candidates
- When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.
- When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to practice the abominations of those nations.
Deu.18.10 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- לא: PART_NEG
- ימצא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- בך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- מעביר: VERB,hif,ptc,m,sg
- בנו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+3ms
- ובתו: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,suff,3,m,sg
- באש: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- קסם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- קסמים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- מעונן: VERB,qal,ptc,m,sg
- ומנחש: CONJ+VERB,qal,ptc,m,sg
- ומכשף: CONJ+VERB,qal,ptc,m,sg
Parallels
- Leviticus 20:2-5 (verbal): Explicitly repeats the prohibition and punishment for making a son or daughter pass through the fire to Molech—uses the same language about passing children through fire and dealing with idolatrous rites.
- 2 Kings 21:6 (verbal): Describes King Manasseh’s practice of passing his children through the fire to pagan gods—an historical example of the condemned act named in Deut 18:10.
- Leviticus 18:21 (thematic): Prohibits giving children to Molech/child sacrifice; shares the same underlying ban on sending children to pagan rites, linking cultic child sacrifice to impurity and idolatry.
- Isaiah 8:19 (verbal): Warnings against consulting mediums and spiritists—parallels Deut 18:10’s prohibition of divination, soothsayers, and necromancers (the same categories of occult practice).
- Jeremiah 7:31 (thematic): Denounces child sacrifice at Topheth and condemns Judah for burning their children—echoes Deut 18:10’s rejection of passing children through fire and sacrificial practices to pagan deities.
Alternative generated candidates
- There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or who practices divination, or who casts spells, or who is an augur, or who interprets omens, or who is a sorcerer.
- There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices divination, or an interpreter of omens, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer.
Deu.18.11 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וחבר: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- חבר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ושאל: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- אוב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וידעני: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- ודרש: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- המתים: NOUN,m,pl,def
Parallels
- Leviticus 19:31 (verbal): Explicitly forbids turning to mediums and necromancers; language and prohibition closely parallel Deut 18:11's ban on consulting the dead.
- Leviticus 20:27 (structural): Priestly law prescribing punishment for mediums and necromancers—legal continuation of the prohibition found in Deut 18:11.
- 1 Samuel 28:7-19 (thematic): Narrative account of Saul consulting the woman at Endor to summon Samuel; a concrete example of the forbidden practice described in Deut 18:11.
- Isaiah 8:19 (verbal): Condemns inquiry of mediums and necromancers with wording like 'inquire of the dead,' contrasting seeking the dead with seeking the Lord—echoes Deut 18:11.
- 2 Chronicles 33:6 (thematic): Reports King Manasseh’s use of diviners and mediums; demonstrates historical practice and negative evaluation related to Deut 18:11's prohibition.
Alternative generated candidates
- Nor shall there be a charmer, a consulter with a familiar spirit, a medium, or one who inquires of the dead.
- or one who casts spells, or a consulter with spirits, or one who inquires of the dead.
Deu.18.12 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- תועבת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- כל: DET
- עשה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אלה: DEM,pl,abs
- ובגלל: CONJ+PREP
- התועבת: NOUN,f,sg,def
- האלה: DEM,pl
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- מוריש: VERB,hiph,ptcp,m,sg
- אותם: PRON,3,m,pl,obj
- מפניך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,2m
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 12:31 (verbal): Uses similar language condemning Canaanite religious practices as an 'abomination' to YHWH and warns Israelites not to imitate them — parallels Deut 18:12's rationale for driving out the nations.
- Leviticus 19:31 (thematic): Prohibits consulting mediums and spiritists and commands Israel not to defile itself by such practices, echoing Deut 18:9–12's ban on occult practices as abominations.
- Leviticus 20:6 (thematic): Declares that turning to mediums and spiritists brings divine opposition and cutting off — similar moral and cultic condemnation to Deut 18:12's label of these practices as detestable to the LORD.
- Leviticus 18:21 (thematic): Specifically forbids passing children through fire (child sacrifice to Molech), one of the practices listed elsewhere in Deut 18 as an abomination that provokes divine judgment.
- 2 Kings 17:17 (structural): Describes Israel's adoption of child sacrifice, divination, and other abominations and ties those practices to the people's exile — mirrors Deut 18:12's link between abominable practices and being driven out by the LORD.
Alternative generated candidates
- For whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD; and because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you.
- For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God will drive them out before you.
Deu.18.13 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- תמים: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- תהיה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,f,sg
- עם: PREP
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
Parallels
- Psalm 15:2 (verbal): Uses the same root תָּמִם/תָּמִים — 'who walks blamelessly' before Yahweh; emphasizes personal conduct and integrity in God's presence.
- Psalm 119:1 (verbal): 'Blessed are those whose way is blameless' (תמימי־דרך) — links blamelessness with fidelity to the Torah and life before the LORD.
- Leviticus 19:2 (thematic): 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy' — a related summons to moral/relational purity and wholeheartedness in relation to God.
- Luke 1:6 (verbal): Describes Zechariah and Elizabeth as 'walking blamelessly (ἄμωμοι/ἐν παρρησίᾳ) in all the commandments' — a New Testament portrayal of life 'blameless before God' paralleling Deut's charge.
- Matthew 5:48 (thematic): 'Be perfect (τέλειοι) as your Father is perfect' — expresses the ethical ideal of wholeness/complete virtue comparable to the Deuteronomic demand to be blameless with God.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.
- You shall be blameless with the LORD your God.
When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable practices of those nations.
Let there not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or anyone who practices divination, one who interprets omens, a sorcerer, or an enchanter;
or a charmer, a consulter with familiar spirits, a wizard, or one who inquires of the dead.
For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD; and because of these abominations the LORD your God is dispossessing them before you.
You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.