Bible Dictionary Definitions

Click here to show/hide instructions.

Results For Word: SORCERER

Open All | Close All Open All | Close All
Word American Tract Society - Definition
SORCERER One who practised sorcery; nearly synonymous with magician, soothsayer, or wizard. This was a class of persons who dealt in incantations and divinations, and boasted of a power, in consequence of their deep science and by means of certain rites, to evoke the spirits of the dead from their gloomy abodes, and compel them to disclose information on subjects beyond the reach of human powers.

They pretended also that, by means of certain herbs and information on subjects beyond the reach of human powers. They pretended also that, by means of certain herbs and incantations, they were able to expel demons, Ac 13:6,8. Those persons also who devoted themselves to the general studies above mentioned, often abused their knowledge and deceived the common people, by pretending to foretell the destinies of men from the motions and appearances of the planets and stars, and to cure diseases by repeating certain phrases, etc. Of this class appears to have been Simon the sorcerer, mentioned in Ac 8:9,11. Females who practised such arts were called sorceresses and witches, Mal 3:5 Re 22:15. See DIVINATION, ENCHANTMENTS, and MAGIC.
Top