Editing Magic and religion (section)

===Magic and Abrahamic religions===
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{{main|Jewish magical papyri|Christian views on magic|Islam and magic|Practical Kabbalah}}
Magic and [[Abrahamic religions]] have had a somewhat checkered past. The [[King James Version]] of the Bible included the famous translation "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22:18),<ref>{{cite book | title = [[King James Version of the Bible]] | year = 1611}}</ref> and [[Saul]] is rebuked by God for seeking advice from a [[Witch of Endor|diviner who could contact spirits]]. On the other hand, seemingly magical signs are documented in the Bible: For example, both the staff of Pharaoh's sorcerers as well as the [[staff of Moses]] and [[Aaron's rod|Aaron]] could be turned into snakes (Exodus 7:8-13). However, as Scott Noegel points out, the critical difference between the magic of Pharaoh's magicians and the non-magic of Moses is in the means by which the staff becomes a snake. For the Pharaoh's magicians, they employed "their secret arts" whereas Moses merely throws down his staff to turn it into a snake. To an ancient Egyptian, the startling difference would have been that Moses neither employed secret arts nor magical words. In the Torah, Noegel points out that YHWH does not need magical rituals to act.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Noegel |first=Scott B. |year=1996 |title=Moses and Magic: Notes on the Book of Exodus |journal=Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society |volume=24 |pages=45–59 |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/snoegel/PDFs/articles/Noegel%2019%20-%20JANES%201996.pdf |access-date=13 March 2022}}</ref>

The words 'witch' and '[[witchcraft]]' appear in some English versions of the Bible. Exodus 22:18 in the King James Version reads: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." The precise meaning of the Hebrew word ''mechshepha'' (root ''kashaph'') here translated as 'witch' and in some other modern versions, 'sorceress', is uncertain. In the [[Septuagint]] it was translated as ''pharmakeia'', meaning 'pharmacy', and on this basis, [[Reginald Scot]] claimed in the 16th century that 'witch' was an incorrect translation and poisoners were intended.<ref>[[Reginald Scot|Scot, Reginald]] (c. 1580) ''The Discoverie of Witchcraft'' Booke VI Ch. 1.</ref>