1 Samuel 28:3

28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. ¹  In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums ²  and magicians ³  from the land.

1 Samuel 28:23

28:23 But he refused, saying, “I won’t eat!” Both his servants and the woman urged ⁴  him to eat, so he gave in. ⁵  He got up from the ground and sat down on the bed.

¹ tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”

² 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).

³ sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.

⁴ tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וַיִּפְצְרוּ (vayyiftseru, “and they pressed”; from the root פצר, psr) rather than the MT’s וַיִּפְרְצוּ (vayyifretsu, “and they broke forth”; from the root פרצ, prs).

⁵ tn Heb “he listened to their voice.”