In Nephi's predictions concerning the last days, he prophesies that after his seed has dwindled in unbelief, and has been smitten by the Gentiles, and has been brought down low in the dust, those who shall be destroyed "shall speak unto them out of the ground . . . and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit" (2 Nephi 26:16). Some might recognize the phrases which Nephi uses as similar to those found in Isaiah 29:1-4 and wonder if Nephi's usage is correct because the words "familiar spirit" are used in the King James Version of the Old Testament to designate witchcraft.
A study by Robert Cloward (see Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, 1998) has found that the translators of the KJV took great liberties in construing statements about "them that have familiar spirits" as referring to spirit mediums, even when that is not always intended in the Hebrew. One should note that the Hebrew expression translated "familiar spirit" more correctly refers to a ghost. ["Book of Mormon Answers" in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol. 7/1, November 1998, p. 74]