Soothsayer

One who pretends to prognosticate future events. Baalam is so called (Josh. 13:22; Heb. kosem, a “diviner,” as rendered 1 Sam. 6:2; rendered “prudent,” Isa. 3:2). In Isa. 2:6 and Micah 5:12 (Heb. yonenim, i.e., “diviners of the clouds”) the word is used of the Chaldean diviners who studied the clouds. In Dan. 2:27; 5:7 the word is the rendering of the Chaldee gazrin, i.e., “deciders” or “determiners”, here applied to Chaldean astrologers, “who, by casting nativities from the place of the stars at one’s birth, and by various arts of computing and divining, foretold the fortunes and destinies of individuals.”, Gesenius, Lex. Heb. (See SORCERER.)

[Divination]

SOOTH'SAYER was one who pretended to foretell future events. Dan 2:27. The original word comes from the verb to "divide," because the soothsayer dissected the entrails of animals for the purpose of telling from their appearance what would come to pass. The Philistines appear to have been notorious for their practice of this magic imposition. Isa 2:6. This was a common mode of divining among the Romans.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. One who foretells events by the art of soothsaying; a prognosticator.

2. A mantis.