Saul Consults a Medium

28 About that time the Philistines mustered their armies for another war with Israel. King Achish told David, “You and your men will be expected to join me in battle.”

² “Very well!” David agreed. “Now you will see for yourself what we can do.”

Then Achish told David, “I will make you my personal bodyguard for life.”

³ Meanwhile, Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him. He was buried in Ramah, his hometown. And Saul had banned from the land of Israel all mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead.

⁴ The Philistines set up their camp at Shunem, and Saul gathered all the army of Israel and camped at Gilboa. ⁵ When Saul saw the vast Philistine army, he became frantic with fear. ⁶ He asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams or by sacred lots^[a] or by the prophets. ⁷ Saul then said to his advisers, “Find a woman who is a medium, so I can go and ask her what to do.”

His advisers replied, “There is a medium at Endor.”

⁸ So Saul disguised himself by wearing ordinary clothing instead of his royal robes. Then he went to the woman’s home at night, accompanied by two of his men.

“I have to talk to a man who has died,” he said. “Will you call up his spirit for me?”

⁹ “Are you trying to get me killed?” the woman demanded. “You know that Saul has outlawed all the mediums and all who consult the spirits of the dead. Why are you setting a trap for me?”

¹⁰ But Saul took an oath in the name of the Lord and promised, “As surely as the Lord lives, nothing bad will happen to you for doing this.”

¹¹ Finally, the woman said, “Well, whose spirit do you want me to call up?”

“Call up Samuel,” Saul replied.

¹² When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed, “You’ve deceived me! You are Saul!”

¹³ “Don’t be afraid!” the king told her. “What do you see?”

“I see a god^[b] coming up out of the earth,” she said.

¹⁴ “What does he look like?” Saul asked.

“He is an old man wrapped in a robe,” she replied. Saul realized it was Samuel, and he fell to the ground before him.

¹⁵ “Why have you disturbed me by calling me back?” Samuel asked Saul.

“Because I am in deep trouble,” Saul replied. “The Philistines are at war with me, and God has left me and won’t reply by prophets or dreams. So I have called for you to tell me what to do.”

¹⁶ But Samuel replied, “Why ask me, since the Lord has left you and has become your enemy? ¹⁷ The Lord has done just as he said he would. He has torn the kingdom from you and given it to your rival, David. ¹⁸ The Lord has done this to you today because you refused to carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites. ¹⁹ What’s more, the Lord will hand you and the army of Israel over to the Philistines tomorrow, and you and your sons will be here with me. The Lord will bring down the entire army of Israel in defeat.”

²⁰ Saul fell full length on the ground, paralyzed with fright because of Samuel’s words. He was also faint with hunger, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.

²¹ When the woman saw how distraught he was, she said, “Sir, I obeyed your command at the risk of my life. ²² Now do what I say, and let me give you a little something to eat so you can regain your strength for the trip back.”

²³ But Saul refused to eat anything. Then his advisers joined the woman in urging him to eat, so he finally yielded and got up from the ground and sat on the couch.

²⁴ The woman had been fattening a calf, so she hurried out and killed it. She took some flour, kneaded it into dough and baked unleavened bread. ²⁵ She brought the meal to Saul and his advisers, and they ate it. Then they went out into the night.

The Death of Saul

31 Now the Philistines attacked Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them. Many were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines closed in on Saul and his sons, and they killed three of his sons—Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malkishua. ³ The fighting grew very fierce around Saul, and the Philistine archers caught up with him and wounded him severely.

⁴ Saul groaned to his armor bearer, “Take your sword and kill me before these pagan Philistines come to run me through and taunt and torture me.”

But his armor bearer was afraid and would not do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor bearer realized that Saul was dead, he fell on his own sword and died beside the king. ⁶ So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and his troops all died together that same day.

⁷ When the Israelites on the other side of the Jezreel Valley and beyond the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their towns and fled. So the Philistines moved in and occupied their towns.

⁸ The next day, when the Philistines went out to strip the dead, they found the bodies of Saul and his three sons on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ So they cut off Saul’s head and stripped off his armor. Then they proclaimed the good news of Saul’s death in their pagan temple and to the people throughout the land of Philistia. ¹⁰ They placed his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of the city of Beth-shan.

¹¹ But when the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all their mighty warriors traveled through the night to Beth-shan and took the bodies of Saul and his sons down from the wall. They brought them to Jabesh, where they burned the bodies. ¹³ Then they took their bones and buried them beneath the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted for seven days.