<P> 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), and Saul is rebuked by God for seeking advice from a 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 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 . </P> <P> The words' witch' and' witchcraft' appear in some English versions of the Bible . One verse that is probably responsible for more deaths of suspected witches than any other passage from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) is Exodus 22: 18 . In the King James Version, this reads: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live ." The precise meaning of the Hebrew word 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 . </P>

Who made a distinction between magic and religion