1 Samuel 28:1-6

The Witch of Endor

28:1 In those days the Philistines gathered their troops 1  for war in order to fight Israel. Achish said to David, “You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle.” 2  28:2 David replied to Achish, “That being the case, you will come to know what your servant can do!” Achish said to David, “Then I will make you my bodyguard 3  from now on.” 4 

28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. 5  In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums 6  and magicians 7  from the land. 28:4 The Philistines assembled; they came and camped at Shunem. Saul mustered all Israel and camped at Gilboa. 28:5 When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was absolutely terrified. 8  28:6 So Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him – not by dreams nor by Urim 9  nor by the prophets.

1 tn Heb “their camps.”

2 tc The translation follows the LXX (εἰς πόλεμον, eis polemon) and a Qumran ms מלחמה במלחמה ([m]lkhmh) bammilkhamah (“in the battle”) rather than the MT’s בַמַּחֲנֶה (bammakhaneh, “in the camp”; cf. NASB). While the MT reading is not impossible here, and although admittedly it is the harder reading, the variant fits the context better. The MT can be explained as a scribal error caused in part by the earlier occurrence of “camp” in this verse.

3 tn Heb “the guardian for my head.”

4 tn Heb “all the days.”

5 tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”

6 tn The Hebrew term translated “mediums” actually refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits (see 2 Kgs 21:6). In v. 7 the witch of Endor is called the owner of a ritual pit. See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401. Here the term refers by metonymy to the owner of such a pit (see H. A. Hoffner, TDOT 1:133).

7 sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.

8 tn Heb “he was afraid, and his heart was very terrified.”

9 sn See the note at 1 Sam 14:41.