When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed, “You’ve deceived me! You are Saul!”
Parallel translations
- WEB When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”
- KJV And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.
- BSB But when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out in a loud voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
- NKJV When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”
- NASB When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
When the woman sees Samuel, she cries out and realizes her visitor is Saul. Her shock suggests this appearance was beyond her usual practice.
Overview
The medium's terrified cry implies that Samuel's actual appearance startled her, perhaps because God Himself, not her arts, produced it. In that moment she also perceives the disguised man is Saul. The text presents the event soberly; most faithful interpreters hold that God sovereignly permitted the real Samuel to appear in order to pronounce judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- 1 Kgs 14:5Yahweh said to Ahijah, “Behold, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to inquire of you concerning her son; for he is sick. Tell her such and such; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.”
- 1 Sam 28:3Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Saul had put away those who had familiar spirits the wizards, out of the land.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 28:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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