Wikipedia's first sentence called it “form of divination that seeks to know the future by randomly selecting a passage from a book”. Today it says “use of books in divination”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2005
Bibliomancy is a form of divination that seeks to know the future by randomly selecting a passage from a book , frequently a sacred text . The most common procedure involves placing the book on its spine, and with eyes closed, allowing the book to fall open to a random page. Then, with the eyes still closed place a finger on the open page and read the passage indicated. Among Christians, the Bible is most commonly used, and in Moslem cultures the Qur'an . In the middle ages the use of Virgil 's Aeneid was common in Europe . Because book owners frequently have favorite passages that the books open themselves to, some practitioners use dice or another randomiser to choose the page to be opened. This practice was formalised by the use of coins or yarrow stalks in consulting the I Ching . Tarot is also a form of bibliomancy, the main difference that the pages (cards) are unbound. Another variant requires the selection of a random book from a library before selecting the random passage from that book. This also holds if a book has fallen down from a shelf on its own. Bibliomancy is another term for Stichomancy, which means "divination from lines." Some sources refer to bibliomancy as a specialised form of stichomancy, since they think that the "biblio" in bibliomancy refers to the Bible rather than understanding that it refers to books in general.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16379318.
The opening as it stood in 2010 11 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination .The method of employing sacred books (especially specific words and verses) for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world: What the Vedas were to the Hindus , Homer to the Greeks , and Ovid and Virgil to the Romans , the Old Testament was to the Jews , the Old and New Testaments to the Christians , and the Koran and Hafiz to the Mohammedans . -- Jewish Encyclopedia , 1906 edition
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370865230.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination . The method of employing sacred books (especially specific words and verses) for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 651026187.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Use of books in divination Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination . The method of employing sacred books (especially specific words and verses) for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 955253922.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Use of books in divination Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination . The use of sacred books (especially specific words and verses) for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178855678.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Use of books in divination Panurge and Pantagruel use a book of Virgil's poems for bibliomancy, in The Third Book of Pantagruel Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination . The use of sacred books (especially specific words and verses) for "magical medicine", for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294175134. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “form of divination that seeks to know the future by randomly selecting a passage from a book”. Today it says “use of books in divination”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
form of divination that seeks to know the future by randomly selecting a passage from a book
Now
use of books in divination
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
