An individual claiming ability to forecast what will take place in the future, among whom the Bible names magic-practicing priests, spiritistic diviners, astrologers, and others. (See DIVINATION; SPIRITISM.) The Hebrew word yid·deʽo·niʹ, rendered “professional foreteller of events,” comes from the root ya·dhaʽʹ (know) and implies knowledge hidden to the ordinary person. It often appears in conjunction with ʼohv, meaning “spirit medium.” (De 18:11) Some individuals possessed occult powers by virtue of contact with the demons, the wicked angelic enemies of God under Satan the Devil, who is the ruler of the demons. (Lu 11:14-20) In ancient times various methods were employed by these prognosticators in obtaining their messages of prediction: stargazing (Isa 47:13), examination of the liver and other viscera of sacrificed animal victims (Eze 21:21), interpretation of omens (2Ki 21:6), consultation with the so-called spirits of the dead, and so forth.​—De 18:11.

The lives of the Egyptians, like the lives of the Babylonians, were regulated to a large extent by their fortune-tellers. (Isa 19:3) On the other hand, God’s true servants never looked to such persons for information. When the Law was given to Israel shortly after their release from bondage in Egypt, they were strictly forbidden to consult “professional foretellers of events.” (Le 19:31) Having “immoral intercourse” with them would result in being cut off (in death) from among God’s people. And as to the one practicing the art, the law went on to say: “As for a man or woman in whom there proves to be a mediumistic spirit or spirit of prediction, they should be put to death without fail.” (Le 20:6, 27) Nearly 40 years later, when poised to enter the Promised Land and to drive out its inhabitants, Israel was reminded: “You must not learn to do according to the detestable things of those nations. There should not be found in you . . . anyone who consults a spirit medium or a professional foreteller of events or anyone who inquires of the dead.”​—De 18:9-11.

More than 350 years later, Israel’s first king, Saul, removed all the foretellers of events from the land, but before his death he had fallen so far away from Jehovah that he personally sought out “a mistress of spirit mediumship in En-dor” to foretell his future. At first she was afraid to practice her art, but at Saul’s insistence that she “bring up Samuel,” she conjured up a vision. She described its form as ‘an old man wearing a sleeveless coat.’ Saul was convinced that it was the prophet Samuel. (1Sa 28:3, 7-19) But it could not actually have been Samuel, for he was dead, and the dead “are conscious of nothing at all.” (Ec 9:5) Samuel, when alive, would certainly have had nothing to do with a spirit medium, and Jehovah God and his holy angels would give such a one no cooperation. God himself told his people: “In case they should say to you people: ‘Apply to the spiritistic mediums or to those having a spirit of prediction who are chirping and making utterances in low tones,’ is it not to its God that any people should apply? Should there be application to dead persons in behalf of living persons? To the law and to the attestation!” Jehovah goes on to say: “Surely they will keep saying what is according to this statement that will have no light of dawn.”​—Isa 8:19, 20.

Nearly 400 years after Saul’s reign, King Manasseh of Judah “did on a large scale what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, to offend him,” including the consulting of professional foretellers of events, who flourished under his rule. (2Ki 21:6; 2Ch 33:6) All of these had to be cleaned out of the land by Manasseh’s grandson, righteous King Josiah.​—2Ki 23:24.

The only mention in the Christian Greek Scriptures of demonic predicting of the future is the instance in which the apostle Paul, in the city of Philippi, freed “a certain servant girl with a spirit, a demon of divination.” She had furnished her masters with much gain “by practicing the art of prediction.” Manifesting the fact that such practice is truly demonic and diametrically opposed to God, the masters of the girl from whom the demon was cast out caused Paul much trouble in Philippi, bringing Paul and his companion Silas before the magistrates, who gave the command to beat them and then threw them into jail.​—Ac 16:12, 16-24.