Lev 20:27 | NET2full | STEP | “‘A man or woman who has in them a spirit of the dead or a familiar spirit must be put to death . They must pelt them with stones ; their blood guilt is on themselves.’”

‏ Leviticus 20:27

27 “‘A man or woman who ^{▼▼tc Smr, LXX, Syriac, and some Targum mss have the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (ʾasher, “who, which”), rather than the MT’s כִּי (ki, “for, because, that”).} has in them a spirit of the dead or a familiar spirit ^{▼▼tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirit” in Lev 19:31 above.} must be put to death. They must pelt them with stones; ^{▼▼tc Smr and LXX have “you [plural] shall pelt them with stones.”} ^{▼▼tn This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning, but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (see the note on v. 2 above).} ^{▼▼sn At first glance Lev 20:27 appears to be out of place but, on closer examination, one could argue that it constitutes the back side of an envelope around the case laws in 20:9-21, with Lev 20:6 forming the front of the envelope (note also that execution of mediums and spiritists by stoning in v. 27 is not explicitly stated in v. 6). This creates a chiastic structure: prohibition against mediums and spiritists (vv. 6 and 27), variations of the holiness formula (vv. 7 and 25-26), and exhortations to obey the Lord’s statutes (and judgments; vv. 8 and 22-24). Again, in the middle are the case laws (vv. 9-21).} their blood guilt is on themselves.’”