Yesaya 19:3

19:3 The Egyptians will panic, ¹ 

and I will confuse their strategy. ² 

They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead,

from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians. ³ 

Imamat 20:6

Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums ⁴ 

20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits ⁵  to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face ⁶  against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

Ulangan 18:11

18:11 one who casts spells, ⁷  one who conjures up spirits, ⁸  a practitioner of the occult, ⁹  or a necromancer. ¹⁰ 

Ulangan 18:1

Provision for Priests and Levites

18:1 The Levitical priests ¹¹  – indeed, the entire tribe of Levi – will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance. ¹² 

1 Samuel 28:8

28:8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.” ¹³ 

1 Samuel 28:1

The Witch of Endor

28:1 In those days the Philistines gathered their troops ¹⁴  for war in order to fight Israel. Achish said to David, “You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle.” ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 10:13

10:13 When Saul ¹⁶  had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

1 Samuel 10:2

10:2 When you leave me today, you will find two men near Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah on Benjamin’s border. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you have gone looking for have been found. Your father is no longer concerned about the donkeys but has become anxious about you two! ¹⁷  He is asking, “What should I do about my son?”’

1 Samuel 1:6

1:6 Her rival wife used to upset her and make her worry, ¹⁸  for the Lord had not enabled her to have children.

[19:3]  ¹ tn Heb “and the spirit of Egypt will be laid waste in its midst.”

[19:3]  ² tn The verb בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”) is a homonym of the more common בָּלַע (bala’, “swallow”); see HALOT 135 s.v. I בלע.

[19:3]  ³ tn Heb “they will inquire of the idols and of the spirits of the dead and of the ritual pits and of the magicians.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19.

[20:6]  ⁴ sn For structure and coherence in Lev 20:6-27 see the note on v. 27 below.

[20:6]  ⁵ tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirits” in Lev 19:31 above.

[20:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will give my faces.”

[18:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “a binder of binding” (חֹבֵר חָבֶר, khover khaver). The connotation is that of immobilizing (“binding”) someone or something by the use of magical words (cf. Ps 58:6; Isa 47:9, 12).

[18:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “asker of a [dead] spirit” (שֹׁאֵל אוֹב, sho’el ’ov). This is a form of necromancy (cf. Lev 19:31; 20:6; 1 Sam 28:8, 9; Isa 8:19; 19:3; 29:4).

[18:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “a knowing [or “familiar”] [spirit]” (יִדְּעֹנִי, yiddÿ’oniy), i.e., one who is expert in mantic arts (cf. Lev 19:31; 20:6, 27; 1 Sam 28:3, 9; 2 Kgs 21:6; Isa 8:19; 19:3).

[18:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a seeker of the dead.” This is much the same as “one who conjures up spirits” (cf. 1 Sam 28:6-7).

[18:1]  ¹¹ tn The MT places the terms “priests” and “Levites” in apposition, thus creating an epexegetical construction in which the second term qualifies the first, i.e., “Levitical priests.” This is a way of asserting their legitimacy as true priests. The Syriac renders “to the priest and to the Levite,” making a distinction between the two, but one that is out of place here.

[18:1]  ¹² sn Of his inheritance. This is a figurative way of speaking of the produce of the land the Lord will give to his people. It is the Lord’s inheritance, but the Levites are allowed to eat it since they themselves have no inheritance among the other tribes of Israel.

[28:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “Use divination for me with the ritual pit and bring up for me the one whom I say to you.”

[28:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “their camps.”

[28:1]  ¹⁵ tc 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.

[10:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:2]  ¹⁷ sn In the Hebrew text the pronoun you is plural, suggesting that Saul’s father was concerned about his son and the servant who accompanied him.

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and her rival wife grieved her, even [with] grief so as to worry her.”