Leviticus 20:27
Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums
27 “‘A man or woman who ▼▼tc Smr, LXX, Syriac, and some Targum mss have the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (ʾasher, “who, which”), rather than the MT’s כִּי (ki, “for, because, that”).
has in them a spirit of the dead or a familiar spirit ▼ must be put to death. They must pelt them with stones; ▼▼tc Smr and LXX have “you [plural] shall pelt them with stones.”
▼ ▼▼sn At first glance Lev 20:27 appears to be out of place but, on closer examination, one could argue that it constitutes the back side of an envelope around the case laws in 20:9-21, with Lev 20:6 forming the front of the envelope (note also that execution of mediums and spiritists by stoning in v. 27 is not explicitly stated in v. 6). This creates a chiastic structure: prohibition against mediums and spiritists (vv. 6 and 27), variations of the holiness formula (vv. 7 and 25-26), and exhortations to obey the Lord’s statutes (and judgments; vv. 8 and 22-24). Again, in the middle are the case laws (vv. 9-21).
their blood guilt is on themselves.’”
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