Soothsayer

A soothsayer is one who claims to foretell future events by means other than the Spirit of God — through omens, divination, astrology, or other occult practices. The Hebrew word most often translated "soothsayer" or "diviner" (qosem) denotes one who casts lots or reads signs to predict the future. Balaam is called a soothsayer or diviner in Joshua 13:22, and the Philistines employed soothsayers in their consultation about the ark (1 Sam. 6:2).

The Law of Moses strictly prohibited all forms of soothsaying and divination (Deut. 18:10–14), declaring that Israel was not to practice what the nations of Canaan practiced. Isaiah condemns the soothsayers of Judah (Isa. 2:6) and the "astrologers" of Babylon (Isa. 47:13). The soothsaying girl at Philippi from whose spirit Paul cast out a divining spirit (Acts 16:16–18) represents the New Testament confrontation of apostolic authority with occult power in the Greco-Roman world.