Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. Then he said, “Please consult for me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to you.”
Parallel Translations
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Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. Then he said, “Please consult for me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to you.”
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And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.
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And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said: 'Divine unto me, I pray thee, by a ghost, and bring me up whomsoever I shall name unto thee.'
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to 1 Samuel 28:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Chronicles 10:13 So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of Yahweh’s word, which he didn’t keep; and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire,
- Isaiah 8:19 When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?
- Deuteronomy 18:10-11 There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells fortunes, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or someone who consults with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
- 1 Kings 22:30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but you put on your robes.” The king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.
- 2 Chronicles 18:29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle.
- 2 Chronicles 35:22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and didn’t listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
- 1 Kings 14:2-3 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that you won’t be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife. Go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said that I would be king over this people. Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child.”
- Job 24:13-15 “These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths. The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief. The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ He disguises his face.
- Jeremiah 23:24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him?” says Yahweh. “Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says Yahweh.
- John 3:19 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
- 1 Kings 22:34 A certain man drew his bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of the armor. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn your hand, and carry me out of the battle; for I am severely wounded.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He seeketh not to God in his misery, but…
He seeketh not to God in his misery, but is let by Satan to unlawful means, which in his conscience he condemneth.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Sa 28:8 And Saul disguised himself, and put on…
1Sa 28:8 And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me [him] up, whom I shall name unto thee.
Ver. 8. And Saul disguised himself.] As well he might with shame enough, thus to return to his vomit, and make use of those whom he had formerly suppressed. A hypocrite will at length be detected, that he may be detested.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Saul disguised himself; both because he was ashamed to…
Saul disguised himself; both because he was ashamed to be known, or thought guilty of this practice; and because he suspected that the woman, had she known him, would not practise her art before him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment,....…
And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment,.... Stripped himself of his royal robes, or military apparel, as supreme commander, and clothed himself in the habit of a peasant or a common soldier; and this not only that he might not be known by the woman, but that he might pass from his army incognito, and it might not be known that he was gone, and especially whither he was gone:
and he went, and two men with him: these, according to the tradition of the Jews (e), were Abner and Amasa; but it is not probable that Saul should leave his army destitute of their general at such a time as this:
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and they came to the woman by night; not only that they might not be seen, but because it was a work of darkness they were going about, and it was only in the night season that such persons exercised their black art; though the Jews (f) say it was day, only because of their distress it was like tonight with them; but the literal sense is best:
and he said, I pray thee divine unto me by the familiar spirit; exercise her art of divination, by the assistance of the familiar spirit she conversed with:
and bring me up whom I shall name unto thee: that is, from the dead; for necromancy was the kind of divination she professed; and such persons pretended to have a power to bring up a deceased person, and consult with him about secret and future things.
(e) Vajikra Rabba, sect. 26. fol. 167. 1. Shalshalet ib. (f) Tanchuma apud Jarchiura in loc.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Disguised - Both because he was ashamed to be…
Disguised - Both because he was ashamed to be known, or thought guilty of this practice; and because he suspected, the woman, had she known him, would not practice her art before him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. Saul disguised himself] That he might not…
Verse 8. Saul disguised himself] That he might not be known by the woman, lest she, being terrified, should refuse to use her art.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Sa 28:8. Saul disguised himself — Both because he…
1Sa 28:8. Saul disguised himself — Both because he was ashamed to be known, or thought guilty of this practice, and because he suspected the woman, if she knew him, would not practise her art before him. And he went — In all haste that very night, stripped of his regal apparel, and attended only by two companions. How nearly allied are infidelity and impiety to superstition; and what will not they do who will not confide in and obey God! But a few hours before he was too haughty to profess himself the servant of the living God, and to observe his laws, and now he is the slave of his fears and follies! “The most infidel man,” says Delaney, “that I ever conversed with, was, by the accounts of those who best knew him, the most superstitious.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Divine - Compare to 1Sa 6:2, note; Num 23:23,…
Divine - Compare to 1Sa 6:2, note; Num 23:23, note.
Bring me him up - The art of the ventriloquist seems to have been always connected with necromancy. The Greeks had necromancers who called up departed spirits to give answers to those who consulted them.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Clothes, that he might not fill the woman or…
Clothes, that he might not fill the woman or his army with dismay. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain bring me him up, whom I shall name unto…
bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee--This pythoness united to the arts of divination a claim to be a necromancer (Deu 18:11); and it was her supposed power in calling back the dead of which Saul was desirous to avail himself. Though she at first refused to listen to his request, she accepted his pledge that no risk would be incurred by her compliance. It is probable that his extraordinary stature, the deference paid him by his attendants, the easy distance of his camp from En-dor, and the proposal to call up the great prophet and first magistrate in Israel (a proposal which no private individual would venture to make), had awakened her suspicions as to the true character and rank of her visitor. The story has led to much discussion whether there was a real appearance of Samuel or not. On the one hand, the woman's profession, which was forbidden by the divine law, the refusal of God to answer Saul by any divinely constituted means, the well-known age, figure, and dress of Samuel, which she could easily represent herself, or by an accomplice--his apparition being evidently at some distance, being muffled, and not actually seen by Saul, whose attitude of prostrate homage, moreover, must have prevented him distinguishing the person though he had been near, and the voice seemingly issuing out of the ground, and coming along to Saul--and the vagueness of the information, imparted much which might have been reached by natural conjecture as to the probable result of the approaching conflict--the woman's representation--all of this has led many to think that this was a mere deception. On the other hand, many eminent writers (considering that the apparition came before her arts were put in practice; that she herself was surprised and alarmed; that the prediction of Saul's own death and the defeat of his forces was confidently made), are of opinion that Samuel really appeared.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. Disguised himself — So as not to be…
8. Disguised himself — So as not to be recognised by the woman.
By night — The only time when it would be at all safe for him to venture so far in the rear of his enemy, and perhaps the only time when he could go at all, for the morrow might require his presence with his army, and the battle might drive him far from Endor.
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Divine unto me — Saul made known his errand in language such as any one who inquired of a necromancer would naturally use.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. they came to the woman by night] It…
8. they came to the woman by night] It was an adventurous journey. They had to pass over the shoulder of the hill on which the Philistines were encamped, and traverse a distance of not less than ten or twelve miles. The darkness around was a fit emblem of the darkness in Saul’s soul. Cp. Joh_13:30, and Augustine’s comment “Nox erat, et ipse qui exivit erat nox,” (It was night, and he who went forth was night).
bring me him up, &c.] A more precise definition of the method of divination “by Ob.” Cp. Deu_18:10-11. Probably Saul expected to hear a voice, but not to see a form. Necromancy was practised among the Greeks and other heathen nations. There was a famous oracle of this kind on the River Acheron in Epirus (νεκυομαντεῖον).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) And Saul disguised himself.—The disguise and the time…
(8) And Saul disguised himself.—The disguise and the time chosen for the expedition served a double purpose. The king would, he thought, be unknown in the darkness and disguise when he came to the witch’s dwelling, and there was, too, a far greater probability of his escaping his Philistine foes, whose army lay between him and the village of En-dor.
Divine unto me by the familiar spirit.—Literally, divine unto me by the ôb. Keil’s remark is interesting: “Prophesying by the ôb was probably performed by calling up a departed spirit from Sheol, and obtaining prophecies—i.e., disclosures—concerning one’s own fate through the medium of such a spirit.” No other commentator touches on the ôb here, and Keil leaves it in doubt as to whether he considered the ôb was some special spirit devoted to the service of the mistress of the ôb, or the spirit or soul of one already dead, who, through some occult power, was to be brought back again for a season to this earth. As far as we can judge of these old mysteries, the sorcerer or sorceress possessed, or was supposed to possess, a “familiar.” Through the aid of this “familiar,” the departed spirit was compelled or induced to re-visit this world, and to submit to certain questioning. The Hebrew rendered “divine unto me” is of Syriac origin, like most of those words describing illicit vaticinations.—Speaker’s Commentary. This miserable power, if it did exist, was one of the things the Israelites learned from the original inhabitants of Canaan. These “black” arts, as they have been called, have, in all ages, in every degree of civilisation, always had an extraordinary fascination for men. It is well known that even in our own “cultured age” similar pretensions are put forth, and the dead are still invoked, summoned, and questioned, as they were in the half-barbarous age when Saul and his companions, in their desperate strait, sought the witch of En-dor.
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And bring me him up.—The popular idea has always been that Sheol, the place of departed spirits, is somewhere beneath the ground or earth on which we live, just as heaven, the abode of God and His holy angels, is in a region above the earth. St. Paul speaks in this popular language (Eph_4:9), where he refers to the lower parts of the earth as the abode of departed spirits. Hence we have here, “bring me him up.” The Christian Church, Bishop Wordsworth reminds us, has adopted this language into her creeds, where she says that Christ in His human soul descended into hell (Hades). Keil well remarks on this human idea of what is “above” and “below”: “With our modes of thought, which are so bound up with time and space, it is impossible to represent to ourselves in any other way the difference and contrast between blessedness with God and shade-life in death.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Saul disguised himself ... and went ... to the…
Saul disguised himself ... and went ... to the woman by night
Saul disguised himself because the way from Gilboa (1 Samuel 28:4) to Endor (1 Samuel 28:7) was through land that the Philistines were living in. He traveled all day and reached the woman after the sun had gone down.
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disguised
changed his usual appearance no one would know who he was
Divine for me ... with a spirit
"Talk to the dead for me"
those who talk with the dead or with spirits
The words "those who talk with the dead" translate as one word in the original language, and the words "those who ... talk with spirits" also translate as one word in the original language. If your language has one word for those who talk with the dead and one word for those who talk with spirits, or if your language has only one word for those who talk with the dead and with spirits, you should use those words here. See how you translated similar words in 1 Samuel 28:3.
my life
The word "life" represents the person. AT: "me" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
Saul (OT)
divination
name
life
oath
Yahweh
punish
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.