TO PRACTICE SORCERY — and its feminine participle, 'a sorceress.' The law's one word for it here is deliberately gendered: 'you shall not let a mekhashefah live' (Exodus 22:18) uses only the FEMININE form, though Deuteronomy 18:10-11 (not yet on these pages) lists the same practice under a broader, ungendered vocabulary alongside diviners and mediums. ⚠ In the King James Version's wording — 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' — this exact verse was directly invoked for centuries to justify the European and American witch trials, a use of the text far removed from its own setting: three capital sentences (sorcery, bestiality, sacrificing to other gods) stated back to back with no reason given for any of them. → first discussed at Exod 22:18