Genesis 31:19
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
19 Now Laban was away shearing his sheep, and Rachel had stolen her father’s household images.[a](A)
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- 31:19 Household images: in Hebrew, teraphim, figurines used in divination (Ez 21:26; Zec 10:2). Laban calls them his “gods” (v. 30). The traditional translation “idols” is avoided because it suggests false gods, whereas Genesis seems to accept the fact that the ancestors did not always live according to later biblical religious standards and laws.
Judges 17:5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
5 The man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim,[a](A) and installed one of his sons, who became his priest.(B)
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- 17:5 An ephod and teraphim: cultic paraphernalia. An ephod was a priestly garment, especially that worn by the high priest (cf. Ex 28 and 39), which contained a pocket for objects used for divination. Teraphim were household idols (Gn 31:19, 34–35; 1 Sm 19:13), which may also have had a divinatory function.
Judges 18:14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
14 Then the five men who had gone to reconnoiter the land spoke up and said to their kindred, “Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, teraphim, and an idol overlaid with silver?(A) Now decide what you must do!”
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Judges 18:18
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
18 and entered the house of Micah with the priest standing there. They took the idol, the ephod, the teraphim and the metal image. When the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
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Judges 18:20
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
20 The priest, agreeing, took the ephod, the teraphim, and the idol, and went along with the troops.
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Ezekiel 21:26
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
26 For the king of Babylon is standing at the fork of the two roads to read the omens:[a] he shakes out the arrows, inquires of the teraphim, inspects the liver.(A)
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- 21:26 Three forms of divination are mentioned: arrow divination, consisting in the use of differently marked arrows extracted or shaken from a case at random; the consultation of the teraphim or household idols; and liver divination, scrutiny of the configurations of the livers of newly slaughtered animals, a common form of divination in Mesopotamia.
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