1 Samuel 28:3

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. 1 Samuel 28:3 tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”
2. 1 Samuel 28:3 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 ʾÔḆ,” 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. 1 Samuel 28:3 sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.