1 Samuel 28:13-25

28:13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What have you seen?” The woman replied to Saul, “I have seen one like a god ¹  coming up from the ground!” 28:14 He said to her, “What about his appearance?” She said, “An old man is coming up! He is wrapped in a robe!”

Then Saul realized it was Samuel, and he bowed his face toward the ground and kneeled down. 28:15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul replied, “I am terribly troubled! The Philistines are fighting against me and God has turned away from me. He does not answer me – not by the prophets nor by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what I should do.”

28:16 Samuel said, “Why are you asking me, now that the Lord has turned away from you and has become your enemy? 28:17 The Lord has done exactly as I prophesied! ²  The Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor David! 28:18 Since you did not obey the Lord ³  and did not carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this thing to you today. 28:19 The Lord will hand you and Israel over to the Philistines! ⁴  Tomorrow both you and your sons will be with me. ⁵  The Lord will also hand the army ⁶  of Israel over to the Philistines!”

28:20 Saul quickly fell full length on the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel’s words. He was completely drained of energy, ⁷  not having eaten anything ⁸  all that day and night. 28:21 When the woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was, she said to him, “Your servant has done what you asked. ⁹  I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me. ¹⁰  28:22 Now it’s your turn to listen to your servant! Let me set before you a bit of bread so that you can eat. When you regain your strength, you can go on your way.”

28:23 But he refused, saying, “I won’t eat!” Both his servants and the woman urged ¹¹  him to eat, so he gave in. ¹²  He got up from the ground and sat down on the bed. 28:24 Now the woman ¹³  had a well-fed calf ¹⁴  at her home that she quickly slaughtered. Taking some flour, she kneaded bread and baked it without leaven. 28:25 She brought it to Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they arose and left that same night.

[28:13]  ¹ tn Heb “gods.” The modifying participle (translated “coming up”) is plural, suggesting that underworld spirits are the referent. But in the following verse Saul understands the plural word to refer to a singular being. The reference is to the spirit of Samuel.

[28:17]  ² tn Heb “just as he said by my hand.”

[28:18]  ³ tn Heb “listen to the voice of the Lord.”

[28:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “And the Lord will give also Israel along with you into the hand of the Philistines.”

[28:19]  ⁵ tc With the exception of the Lucianic recension, the LXX has here “and tomorrow you and your sons with you will fall.”

[28:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “camp.”

[28:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “also there was no strength in him.”

[28:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “food.”

[28:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “listened to your voice.”

[28:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.”

[28:23]  ¹¹ 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).

[28:23]  ¹² tn Heb “he listened to their voice.”

[28:24]  ¹³ sn Masoretic mss of the Hebrew Bible mark this word as the half-way point in the book of Samuel, treating 1 and 2 Samuel as a single book. Similar notations are found at the midway point for all of the books of the Hebrew Bible.

[28:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a calf of the stall.”