Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.
Key: khaki:verbs, blue:Elohim.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
BrLXXΚαὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ ὁ βασιλεὺς, μὴ φοβοῦ, εἶπον τίνα ἑώρακας· καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἡ γυνὴ, θεοὺς ἑώρακα ἀναβαίνοντας ἐκ τῆς γῆς. (Kai eipen autaʸ ho basileus, maʸ fobou, eipon tina heōrakas; kai eipen autōi haʸ gunaʸ, theous heōraka anabainontas ek taʸs gaʸs. )
BrTrAnd the king said to her, Fear not; tell me whom thou hast seen. And the woman said to him, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
ULTAnd the king said to her, “Do not be afraid, but what did you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I saw gods going up from the earth.”
USTSaul said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” ¶ The woman said, “I see a god coming up out of the ground.”
BSB § “Do not be afraid,” the king replied. “What do you see?” § “I see a god [fn] coming up out of the earth,” the woman answered.
RVAnd the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what seest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth.
WbstrAnd the king said to her be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said to Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
KJB-1769And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. (And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawst thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. )
KJB-1611And the king sayd vnto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said vnto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. (Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)
BshpsAnd the king saide vnto her: Be not afrayd: What sawest thou? The woman saide vnto Saul: I sawe gods ascending vp out of the earth. (And the king said unto her: Be not afrayd: What sawst thou? The woman said unto Saul: I saw gods ascending up out of the earth.)
GnvaAnd the King said vnto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said vnto Saul, I saw gods ascending vp out of the earth. (And the King said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawst thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending up out of the earth. )
CvdlAnd the kynge sayde vnto her: Feare not, what seist thou? The woman sayde vnto Saul: I se goddes comynge vp out of ye earth? (And the king said unto her: Fear not, what sayest thou? The woman said unto Saul: I see gods coming up out of ye/you_all earth?)
WyclAnd the kyng seide to hir, Nyl thou drede; what hast thou seyn? And the womman seide to Saul, Y siy goddis stiynge fro erthe. (And the king said to her, Nyl thou/you drede; what hast thou/you seyn? And the woman said to Saul, I saw gods stiynge from earth.)
LuthUnd der König sprach zu ihr: Fürchte dich nicht, was siehest du? Das Weib sprach zu Saul: Ich sehe Götter heraufsteigen aus der Erde. (And the/of_the king spoke to ihr: Fear you/yourself not, what/which siehest du? The woman spoke to Saul: I see gods heraufsteigen out_of the/of_the earth.)
ClVgDixitque ei rex: Noli timere: quid vidisti? Et ait mulier ad Saul: Deos vidi ascendentes de terra. (And_he_said to_him rex: Noli timere: quid vidisti? And he_said mulier to Saul: Deos I_saw ascendentes about terra. )
28:13 Saul asked the medium to describe what she saw that caused her to scream. She described a divine being, a god (Hebrew ’elohim) coming up. Perhaps she observed a human figure with a godlike or angelic appearance, or her use of the term god might reflect a pagan belief that a person becomes a god—a spirit possessing supernatural abilities—after death.
The Old Testament forbids occult practices, such as spiritism, divination, and necromancy, in which someone attempts to contact the dead, usually to seek guidance about the future (see Deut 18:9-12). Practicing necromancy and consulting a necromancer were capital offenses (Lev 20:6, 27; cp. 1 Sam 28:9). God’s people were instead to rely on God for divine guidance.
God buried Moses in an unmarked grave (Deut 34:6), possibly because he did not want the Israelites to make Moses’ grave a shrine, present offerings to his spirit, worship him, or attempt to consult his spirit. They may have been prone to these sorts of practices because of their time in Egypt and because of Moses’ stature and his role in mediating Israel’s covenant with God.
The Old Testament makes it plain that the dead cannot be contacted (cp. 2 Sam 12:23; Job 14:10-12; Pss 88:10; 115:17). Samuel is the only known exception; God apparently commanded him to return and speak (see 1 Sam 28:12-19). Saul’s sin in consulting a medium was so severe that the Chronicler singles out this failure in commenting on Saul’s downfall (see 1 Chr 10:13-14). There is never any justification for seeking advice from the dead when we have the living word of God to guide us (2 Tim 3:15-17; Heb 4:12-13).
(Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_said to/for=her/it the=king not afraid that/for/because/then/when what see and=she/it_said the=woman to/towards Shāʼūl ʼElohīm see coming_up from/more_than the=earth/land )
Other This could mean: (1) “one like God” or (2) “a judge” (1 Samuel 7:15).
The Bible makes it clear that David was specially chosen and raised up by God to be Israel’s next king (1 Samuel 16:1-13), but Scripture also makes it clear that David’s rise to power came about through several shrewd maneuvers on his part. Among these shrewd maneuvers were David’s clandestine attacks on hostile peoples to the south of Judah and his distribution of Amalekite plunder among the towns of southern Judah. These actions by David strengthened southern Judah against their enemies and no doubt cemented Judah’s loyalty to him as a champion for their well-being. It should be noted that the Bible affirms King Saul’s effectiveness at attacking Israel’s enemies (1 Samuel 14:47-52), especially the Philistines, but various character flaws and bad choices by Saul led to God’s selection of David as the one who would replace Saul as king (1 Samuel 13:1-23; 15:1-35). Because of this, Saul grew jealous of David and sought to kill him, forcing David to seek refuge among various towns throughout Judah and even in Philistia (1 Samuel 16-27). After seeking asylum in Gath for a time, David asked King Achish if he could move his family outside of the city, and Achish gave him the border town of Ziklag. Apparently Achish still tried to keep tabs on David’s activities, however, periodically asking him where he had recently raided. David would answer that he had been raiding the Negev of Judah, the Negev of the Jerahmeelites (see 1 Chronicles 2:42), or the Negev of the Kenites (Judges 1:16; see “Saul Attacks the Amalekites” map), which were inhabited by people loyal to Israel. In reality, however, David had been raiding the Amalekites (longtime enemies of Israel; see Genesis 14:7; Exodus 17; Numbers 13:29; 14:45; Deuteronomy 25:17-19), the Geshurites, and the Girzites. These peoples lived to the south of Israel’s territory and along the Way to Shur leading to Egypt. Soon after this King Achish mustered his men at Aphek to head to battle against the Israelites in the Jezreel Valley further north. As they set off for battle and the other Philistine rulers realized David and his men were accompanying them, the rulers protested and insisted that David would turn on them in battle. So Achish sent David home and continued on to Jezreel. When David and his men arrived at Ziklag, they found that Amalekites had burned the town and carried off their wives and children. David and his men set out to attack the Amalekites and recover their families. When they reached the Besor Brook, two hundred of the men were too exhausted to go on and stayed with the other equipment while the remaining four hundred men continued toward Amalek. Along the way, David’s men found an abandoned Egyptian slave of the Amalekites who had participated in the attack on Ziklag and on other locations in southern Judah. The man led David’s men to the Amalekite camp, and then they attacked the Amalekites and retrieved all the captives and plunder that had been taken. Only four hundred Amalekites were able to escape, fleeing on camels. David’s men then rejoined their fellow warriors at the Besor Brook and returned to Ziklag. David sent some of the plunder to the leaders of Ziklag as well as to other towns where David had roamed during the time when he was fleeing from Saul. Many of these towns were located in territory formerly inhabited by Amalekites (Numbers 13:29; 14:25, 43-45; Judges 1:16; see also Judges 12:15) and were likely among those attacked by the Amalekites and other hostile peoples to the south. After this, the Amalekites are only mentioned again in Scripture to note that David killed an Amalekite who himself had killed Saul (to fulfill what Saul requested of him), to note that Amalekite plunder was among the treasures that David dedicated to the Temple of the Lord (2 Samuel 8:9-12), and to recount how in the days of Hezekiah some Simeonites went to Mount Seir and destroyed the remnant of Amalekites that had survived (1 Chronicles 4:42-43).
