medium

The Hebrew that is translated as “medium” in English is translated in Basa as “the people of the grave” (source: Rob Koops) and in Newari as “a person who knowingly becomes possessed” (source: Newari Back-Translation).

Saul

The name that is transliterated as “Saul” in English means “asked for,” “demanded,” “required.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )

It is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign that depicts “sword in chest” (referring to 1 Samuel 31:4 and 1 Chronicles 10:4) and also “self-centered.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Saul” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about King Saul (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Saul .

complete verse (1 Samuel 28:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 28:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then Saul dressed in clothes which camouflaged him so he would not know. At night, he went with two of his people to that woman’s house. And when they reached there, Saul told that woman that, ‘Call for me the spirit of someone I will tell you.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then Saul, putting on clothes like everyone else, went in the evening with two men to meet that woman. And [he] said to her, Ask the spirit [and] tell [him] about me, and the one whose name I tell, call him."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “So Saul pretended/disguised-(himself) by-means-of wearing an ordinary clothes, and at-night he went to the woman together-with his two men. When- they -arrived, Saul said to the woman, ‘I want to-talk-together with the ghost/spirit of a man/person. Can you (sing.) call-(for/up) his/her ghost/spirit?’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So Saul took off the clothes that showed that he was the king, and he put on ordinary clothes to disguise himself/so that people would not recognize who he was. Then he and two of his men went during the night to talk to that woman. Saul said to her, ‘I want you to talk to a spirit of someone who has died. Cause to appear the person whose name I will give to you.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 28:8

Since Saul had to pass through territory controlled by the Philistine army, he disguised himself and traveled at night. Putting on different clothing was at least a part of Saul’s disguise, so it may be misleading to use the conjunction and between the first two verbs in this verse. Contemporary English Version translates the meaning of the two together as follows: “Saul put on different clothing so nobody would recognize him.” In other languages the idea of disguising may have to be rendered by saying something like “fooled people by changing his appearance.”

The meaning of Divine for me by a spirit is clearly expressed in Revised English Bible: “Tell me my fortune by consulting the dead.”

Bring up: that is, from under the earth in Sheol, where the dead were believed to be. The verb form is causative, literally “cause to come up.” See verses 11 and 13.

Whomever I shall name to you: that is, “the person whose name I am about to say” or “the spirit of the person I will name.” In Hebrew thought, a person did not have a spirit. Rather the word often translated “spirit” refers to those aspects of a human being such as “sense,” “mind,” and “breath.” Perhaps a rendering such as “Call up the person [or, the man] I name” may be better than “call up the spirit of the man” if the “spirit” is understood as something other than the living person.

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 .