1 Samuel 28:13
ESV
The king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up out of the earth."
NIV
The king said to her, "Don’t be afraid. What do you see?" The woman said, "I see a ghostly figure coming up out of the earth."
NASB
But the king said to her, 'Do not be afraid; but what do you see?' And the woman said to Saul, 'I see a divine being coming up from the earth.'
CSB
But the king said to her, "Don’t be afraid. What do you see?" "I see a spirit form coming up out of the earth," the woman answered.
NLT
Don’t be afraid!' the king told her. 'What do you see?' 'I see a god coming up out of the earth,' she said.
KJV
And 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.
NKJV
And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.”
What does 1 Samuel 28:13 mean?
The medium Saul hired to summon the spirit of Samuel suddenly realizes that her client is the king who outlawed her work. Saul likely executed others for doing exactly what she is doing right now (1 Samuel 28:12). Saul, though, has not come to catch and punish her for this. He has come to get an audience with Samuel. He tells her not to be afraid and to keep going.Clearly, only the medium sees this spirit. Scholars debate whether this is literally the spirit of Samuel the prophet, or a demonic spirit disguised that way. She describes a "god" coming up out of the earth. Some Canaanite people imagined that those who had died became gods, especially if they were able to appear to the living once more.
The description of Samuel's spirit coming up out of the ground suggests that the woman is using a pit in the earth. This may have been converted by ritual sacrifices into what the mediums believed was a portal between the underworld of the dead and that of the living above.
Saul and the woman are breaking God's law by attempting to communicate with the dead (Leviticus 20:27). There is nothing in the Bible suggesting the dead revisit earth through magic. This singular event—if it is, indeed, Samuel, and not a demonic fraud—is only possible through God's grace and His judgment. "Samuel" is irritated. God is resolved. Saul and his sons will die in battle the very next day (1 Samuel 28:15, 19).
