There is such a difference between the two utterances of Saul to the woman that some translators may feel the need for some kind of transition word or phrase between them. Contemporary English Version adds the word “Just [tell me],” while both Bible en français courant and La Bible du Semeur add “rather,” that is, “Don’t be afraid, rather tell me what you see.”

A god: this Hebrew word may also be rendered “gods.” Other translations include “a divine being” (New Revised Standard Version), “a ghostly form” (Revised English Bible), “a ghost” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “a supernatural being” (La Bible du Semeur). Like Good News Translation, a number of English versions have “spirit” (New International Version, New Century Version, Contemporary English Version). Compare Isa 8.19.

Up out of the earth: like all who die, Samuel was thought to be in the underworld, in a place called “Sheol.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .