1tn Heb “their camps.” 2tc 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. 3tn Heb “the guardian for my head.” 4tn Heb “all the days.” 5tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.” 6tn 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). 7sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits. 8tn Heb “he was afraid, and his heart was very terrified.” 9sn See the note at 1 Sam 14:41. 10tn Heb “an owner of a ritual pit.” See the note at v. 3. 11tn Heb “Use divination for me with the ritual pit and bring up for me the one whom I say to you.” 12tn Heb “how he has cut off.” 13tn See the note at v. 3. 14tn Heb “my life.” 15tn Heb “in a great voice.” 16tn 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. 17tn Heb “just as he said by my hand.” 18tn Heb “listen to the voice of the Lord.” 19tn Heb “And the Lord will give also Israel along with you into the hand of the Philistines.” 20tc With the exception of the Lucianic recension, the LXX has here “and tomorrow you and your sons with you will fall.” 21tn Heb “camp.” 22tn Heb “also there was no strength in him.” 23tn Heb “food.” 24tn Heb “listened to your voice.” 25tn Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.” 26tc 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). 27tn Heb “he listened to their voice.” 28sn 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. 29tn Heb “a calf of the stall.”
1tn Heb “their camps.”
2tc 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.
3tn Heb “the guardian for my head.”
4tn Heb “all the days.”
5tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”
6tn 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).
7sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.
8tn Heb “he was afraid, and his heart was very terrified.”
9sn See the note at 1 Sam 14:41.
10tn Heb “an owner of a ritual pit.” See the note at v. 3.
11tn Heb “Use divination for me with the ritual pit and bring up for me the one whom I say to you.”
12tn Heb “how he has cut off.”
13tn See the note at v. 3.
14tn Heb “my life.”
15tn Heb “in a great voice.”
16tn 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.
17tn Heb “just as he said by my hand.”
18tn Heb “listen to the voice of the Lord.”
19tn Heb “And the Lord will give also Israel along with you into the hand of the Philistines.”
20tc With the exception of the Lucianic recension, the LXX has here “and tomorrow you and your sons with you will fall.”
21tn Heb “camp.”
22tn Heb “also there was no strength in him.”
23tn Heb “food.”
24tn Heb “listened to your voice.”
25tn Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.”
26tc 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).
27tn Heb “he listened to their voice.”
28sn 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.
29tn Heb “a calf of the stall.”