1 Samuel 28:1-7

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. 28:7 So Saul instructed his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, ¹⁰  so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants replied to him, “There is a woman who is a medium in Endor.”

[28:1]  ¹ tn Heb “their camps.”

[28:1]  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.

[28:2]  ³ tn Heb “the guardian for my head.”

[28:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “all the days.”

[28:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”

[28:3]  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).

[28:3]  ⁷ sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.

[28:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “he was afraid, and his heart was very terrified.”

[28:6]  ⁹ sn See the note at 1 Sam 14:41.

[28:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “an owner of a ritual pit.” See the note at v. 3.