Soothsaying
Soothsaying
A comparison of the words used in different versions of the Scriptures to indicate the various practices and practisers of divination-using that word in its very widest sense-shows how indefinite was and is the significance attached to all these, and intensifies the desire that research may speedily classify them and determine the exact meaning of each. The English word soothsay strictly means to tell authoritatively the truth. The phrases sooth to say, in good sooth show the primary meaning. Men are especially anxious regarding the future; hence a soothsayer is a sayer of truth as regards the future.
Soothsayer is used in Jos 13:22 (Authorized Version and Revised Version ; AVm [Note: Vm Authorized Version margin.] diviner) to translate , Qal pt. act. of , which, with its kindred terms, is translated divine in Num 22:7; Num 23:23, Deu 18:10; Deu 18:14, 1Sa 28:8, 2Ki 17:17, Isa 44:25, Eze 12:24; Eze 13:6-7; Eze 21:21-23, Mic 3:6-7, the Septuagint in all these cases employing and its cognates. But in 1Sa 15:23 the same Hebrew word is translated witchcraft (Authorized Version and Revised Version ; marg. [Note: margin.] divination), the Septuagint using ; in Pro 16:10 the word is translated a divine sentence (Authorized Version and Revised Version ; marg. [Note: margin.] in all three divination), the Septuagint using in this case . Finally, in Isa 3:2 it is translated the prudent in Authorized Version , but diviner in Revised Version , and the Septuagint translates by . Soothsayers is the translation in Isa 2:6 of , Qal pt. act. of in Authorized Version and Revised Version , the Septuagint employing , while in Isa 57:3 is translated sorceress, possibly because soothsayeress is an impossible word; but the Septuagint renders ye sons of the sorceress by . Soothsayers is the translation in Mic 5:12 of (Authorized Version and Revised Version ), the Septuagint in this case rendering the word by . In Dan 2:27; Dan 4:7(4), Dan 5:7; Dan 5:11 soothsayers is the translation of participles of the verb , to cut, to decree, to decide, the Septuagint employing participles of a verb which is evidently a mere transliteration of the Hebrew. [Note: Augustine, de Civ. Dei, iii. 11. 17.]
In Act 16:16 the word is used to indicate the art of the pythoness of Philippi. The girls work was to predict accurately, and hence the word is here used in its strict English sense. Soothsayer, then, is used of one who professes to indicate the future truthfully by a writer who does not believe that the soothsayer possesses such a power. In Hermas (Mand. xi. 2) the man who has the Divine spirit is differentiated by his life from the to whom doubters go as a . The latter exalts himself, is bold, impudent, talkative, luxurious, and without reward gives no predictions. The soothsayers would appear, at least at a later time, to have been superior to and more skilful than the augurs. Perhaps part of their success lay, as in the famous case of Pyrrhus, in the cleverness with which they gave deliverances so worded that whatever happened their reputation did not suffer. [Note: For functions of the Semitic soothsayers see EBr11 xxii. 319b. On Babylonian soothsaying see ERE ii. 316b, 319b.]
Literature.-E. B. Tylor, PC [Note: C Primitive Culture (E. B. Tylor).] 4, London, 1903, i. 145, 147; Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) v. 145, 618a n. [Note: . note.] , and the literature under Divination and Python.
P. A. Gordon Clark.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Soothsaying
“to divine, practice divination” (from mantis, “a seer, diviner”), occurs in Act 16:16. The word is allied to mainomai, “to rave,” and mania, “fury” displayed by those who were possessed by the evil spirit (represented by the pagan god or goddess) while delivering their oracular messages. Trench (Syn. vi) draws a distinction between this verb and propheteuo, not only as to their meanings, but as to the fact of the single occurrence of manteuomai in the NT, contrasted with the frequency of propheteuo, exemplifying the avoidance by NT writers of words the employment of which “would tend to break down the distinction between heathenism and revealed religion.”