isaiah 8:19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? - Free Bible Online

isaiah 8:19 And when they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? [Should they] [consult] the dead on behalf of the living?


      19. Seek unto--Consult in your national difficulties.
      them . . . familiar spirits--necromancers, spirit charmers. So Saul, when he had forsaken God (1Sa 28:7, &c.), consulted the witch of En-dor in his difficulties. These follow in the wake of idolatry, which prevailed under Ahaz (2Ki 16:3, 4, 10). He copied the soothsaying as he did the idolatrous "altar" of Damascus (compare Le 20:6, which forbids it, Isa 19:3).
      wizards--men claiming supernatural knowledge; from the old English, "to wit," that is, know.
      peep--rather "chirp faintly," as young birds do; this sound was generally ascribed to departed spirits; by ventriloquism the soothsayers caused a low sound to proceed as from a grave, or dead person. Hence the Septuagint renders the Hebrew for "necromancers" here "ventriloquists" (compare Isa 29:4).
      mutter--moan.
      should not, &c.--The answer which Isaiah recommends to be given to those advising to have recourse to necromancers.
      for the living, &c.--"should one, for the safety of the living, seek unto (consult) the dead?" [GESENIUS]. LOWTH renders it, "In place of (consulting) the living, should one consult the dead?"

JFB.


Questions Related to this Verse

Where in Scripture does it talk about desiring the things of God?

Where In Scripture Does It Talk About Necromancy?

Where In Scripture Does It Talk About Seekers?

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Free Bible Online Picture Study Bible, King James Version. New York: American Bible Society: www.free-bible.com, 1995-2013. Bible History Picture Study Bible. Feb 05, 2026.


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