On Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:50:32 -0500, jeff wrote:

Capt. JG wrote:
"jeff" wrote in message
...
Dave wrote:
On Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:44:08 +0700, Bruce In Bangkok
said:

thou shall
not suffer a witch to live,
Where would I find this little-known verse?
In the Bible, of course. It isn't "little-known" by any serious reader
since there are a number of situations that refer back to it. In the
ancient Hebrew world there was little doubt that witchcraft was effective,
but it was considered an insult to God.

Specifically, its Exodus 22:18 in the King James. In the Hebrew (JPS)
Bible its Exodus 22:17, just between "seducing a virgin for whom the
bride-price has not been paid" and "lies with a beast."


I believe it's a mis-translation.

No, its pretty accurate. The closest English to the original Hebrew is
"You shall not let live a sorceress."

The big question is: what qualifies as sorcery? This particular case is
a bit vague, but the injunction is repeated with more specifics in Deut
18:10-11 (from the JPS version): "Let no one be found among you who
consigns his son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a
soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, or one who
consults ghost or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead."

Don't get carried away with miss-translations in the Christian Bible
they are pretty wide spread. The commandment against killing is worded
as a commandment against murder in the Jewish sources. "Thou shall not
commit murder" not "Thou shall not kill".

Anyway, not many have paid any attention to it in the past 2000
years...
Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)