1 Samuel 28:19
ESV
Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines."
NIV
The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines."
NASB
Furthermore, the Lord will also hand Israel along with you over to the Philistines; so tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed, the Lord will hand the army of Israel over to the Philistines!'
CSB
The Lord will also hand Israel over to the Philistines along with you. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, and the Lord will hand Israel’s army over to the Philistines."
NLT
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.'
KJV
Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.
NKJV
Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
What does 1 Samuel 28:19 mean?
Saul will go into battle the next day against a far larger and better-equipped Philistine army. He's afraid. God won't respond no matter how he asks. He's resorted to seeking out a medium—a profession he'd eradicated—to call up the spirit of Samuel. But Saul doesn't get the message he wants (1 Samuel 28:3–15).First, Samuel reminds him why God isn't answering. God promised to reject Saul after he rebelled too many times. God removed His Spirit from Saul and gave it to David, who will take Saul's place as king (1 Samuel 28:16–18).
Now, Samuel tells Saul that the moment of God's earthly judgment will take place on the very next day. Israel will fall to the massive Philistine army, and Saul and his sons will be killed and join Samuel in death. The name for the place of the dead in the Old Testament was sheol, which described a murky place of rest that seemed to be neither a punishment nor a reward, but a holding place until future things happened. For the reader, this is the revelation that David's close friend Jonathan will soon die, as well.
This news overwhelms Saul. He hasn't eaten, and his heart and body collapse. The medium had been afraid that Saul would kill her (1 Samuel 28:9), but now she's afraid she's killed the king. She forces him to eat a bit of bread while she kills and cooks the fattened calf and makes fresh bread. With the kindness of a witch, Saul has enough energy to meet his death (1 Samuel 28:20–25).
