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# כָּשַׁף

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H3784

**practice sorcery** — used 6 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

practice sorcery [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1499/3784/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

כִּשֵּׁף: vb. denom. practice sorcery [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1499/3784/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** vb. denom. practice sorcery (Assyrian kašâpu, id.);—Pf. 3 ms.: וְעוֹנֵן וְנִחֵשׁ וְכִשֵּׁף וְעָשָׂה אוֹב וְיִדְּעוֹנִ֑י 2 Ch 33:6 (of Manasseh); elsewhere only Pt. as subst. ms. sorcerer, in Israel, מְכַשֵּׁף Dt 18:10 (following קֹסֵם קְסָמִים מְעוֹנֵן וּמְנַחֵשׁ); fs. מְכַשֵּׁפָה = sorceress Ex 22:17 (E); mpl. מְכַשְּׁפִים Mal 3:5 (named with adulterers and false-swearers); of diviners, or astrologers in Egypt (חַרְטֻמִּים q.v.) Ex 7:11 (P; ‖ חֲכָמִים); in Babylon Dn 2:2 (+ חַרְטֻמִּים, אַשָּׁפִים, כַּשְׂדִּים).

Why these entries: BDB: same consonants, part of speech agrees, 6 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses (5 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 2 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (3 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: sorcerers (3); a sorcerer (1); a sorceress (1).

## In the verses

[Exodus 22:17](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.22.17/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.22.17/#tree)

מְכַשֵּׁפָ֖ה לֹ֥א תְחַיֶּֽה׃ס

*Word for word:* a.sorceress not you.will.let.live

*JPS 1917:* Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live.

[Deuteronomy 18:10](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.18.10/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.18.10/#tree)

לֹֽא־יִמָּצֵ֣א בְךָ֔ מַעֲבִ֥יר בְּנֽוֹ־וּבִתּ֖וֹ בָּאֵ֑שׁ קֹסֵ֣ם קְסָמִ֔ים מְעוֹנֵ֥ן וּמְנַחֵ֖שׁ וּמְכַשֵּֽׁף׃

*Word for word:* not he.will.be.found among you \[one.who\].makes.pass son his and daughter his in the fire \[one.who\].divines divinations a.soothsayer and \[one.who\].practices.divination and a.sorcerer

*JPS 1917:* There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that useth divination, a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/3784.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1499/3784/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).