Hebrew Bible
You shall not tolerate a sorceress.
Exodus 22:17
When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall
not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations. Let no one
be found among you who consigns his son or daughter to the fire, or who
is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, one who casts spells,
or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of
the dead. For anyone who does such things is abhorrent to the Lord, and
it is because of these abhorrent things that the Lord your God is dispossessing
them before you.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "When Pharaoh speaks to you and
says, 'Produce your marvel,' you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your rod and
cast it down before Pharaoh.' It shall turn into a serpent." So Moses
and Aaron came before Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded: Aaron
cast down his rod in the presence of Pharaoh and his courtiers, and it
turned into a serpent. Then Pharaoh, for his part, summoned the wise men
and the sorcerers; and the Egyptian magicians, in turn, did the same with
their spells; each cast down his rod, and they turned into serpents. But
Aaron's rod swallowed their rods.
Exodus 7:8-13
The Lord sent serpents against the people. They bit the people and many
of the Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned
by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord to
take away the serpents from us!" And Moses interceded for the people.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a serpent figure and mount it on
a standard. And if anyone who is bitten looks at it, he shall recover." Moses
made a copper serpent and mounted it on a standard; and when anyone was
bitten by a serpent, he would look at the copper serpent and recover.
Numbers 21:6-9
New Testament
None of the rest dared join them [i.e.,
Jesus' disciples], but the people held them in high honor. And more
than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and
women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid
them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might
fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around
Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits,
and they were all healed.
Acts of the Apostles 5:13-16
And God did extraordinary miracles by the
hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his
body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out
of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to pronounce
the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I
adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." Seven sons of a Jewish
high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus
I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" And the man in whom the
evil spirit was leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them,
so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became
known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; and fear fell
upon them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Many also of
those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.
And a number of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together
and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the value of them
and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the
Lord grew and prevailed mightily.
Acts of the Apostles 19:11-20
But there was a man named Simon who had previously
practiced magic in the city and amazed the nation of Sama'ria, saying that
he himself was somebody great. They all gave heed to him, from the least
to the greatest, saying, "This man is that power of God which is called
Great." And they gave heed to him, because for a long time he had
amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached
good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were
baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being
baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles
performed, he was amazed. Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that
Sama'ria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John,
who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit;
for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized
in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they
received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given
through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, "Give
me also this power, that any one on whom I lay my hands may receive the
Holy Spirit." But Peter said to him, "Your silver perish with
you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You
have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before
God. Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord
that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For
I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity."
Acts of the Apostles 8:9-23