קֶ֫סֶם
qe.sem
divination
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Qesem: Divination in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word *qesem* (H7081) refers to divination—the practice of seeking hidden knowledge or future events through supernatural or ritualistic means. With eleven occurrences in the biblical text, this term appears with enough frequency to suggest it was a recognized concept in ancient Israelite culture, though the specific contexts in which it appears would determine whether it was presented as legitimate or condemned. The relative rarity of *qesem* (appearing only eleven times) compared to some other religious or cultic terms suggests that while divination was acknowledged as an existing practice in the ancient Near Eastern world, biblical authors may have treated it as noteworthy precisely because it required explicit mention rather than being assumed as part of normal religious life. The term's presence in the biblical lexicon indicates that the original audience would have understood divination as a distinct category of activity, separate from other forms of seeking divine guidance or knowledge. Without access to the specific passages where *qesem* appears, one cannot determine from this lexical data alone whether the biblical text uniformly condemns the practice, permits it under certain conditions, or reflects varying attitudes across different periods or authors. The term's definition and frequency alone establish only that divination was an identifiable practice recognized in biblical-era contexts.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
11 total occurrences across the text
Inspired judgments are on the lips of the king. He shall not betray his mouth.
Jeremiah 14:14Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.
Ezekiel 21:21For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows back and forth. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver.
Ezekiel 13:6They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but Yahweh has not sent them. They have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed.
Ezekiel 13:23Therefore you shall no more see false visions, nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”
Ezekiel 21:22In his right hand was the lot for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, and to build forts.
Numbers 22:7The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand. They came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.
Numbers 23:23Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What has God done!’
Deuteronomy 18:10There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells fortunes, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,
1 Samuel 15:23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected Yahweh’s word, he has also rejected you from being king.”
2 Kings 17:17They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger.