1 Samuel 28:24
ESV
Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly killed it, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it,
NIV
The woman had a fattened calf at the house, which she butchered at once. She took some flour, kneaded it and baked bread without yeast.
NASB
Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly slaughtered it; then she took flour, kneaded it and baked unleavened bread from it.
CSB
The woman had a fattened calf at her house, and she quickly slaughtered it. She also took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread.
NLT
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.
KJV
And the woman had a fat calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof:
NKJV
Now the woman had a fatted calf in the house, and she hastened to kill it. And she took flour and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread from it.
What does 1 Samuel 28:24 mean?
Earlier this night, the woman thought she was going to die. The king had purged the land, as much as possible, of mediums like her. So, when a man and his two servants arrived in the middle of the night and asked her to call up the dead, she refused. The man reassured her she'd be safe. She called the person the man asked for. When Samuel, the dead prophet and judge of Israel, came up from the ground, she realized her customer was the king. He reassured her, again, that she was safe (1 Samuel 28:8–14).She then had the horrible responsibility of either facilitating or translating a conversation between the king and the spirit. She learned the king had lost favor with his God because of disobedience, and on the next day, he and his sons would die in battle (1 Samuel 28:15–19).
The king collapsed with the message. She couldn't change the prophecy, but he had kept her safe. The least she could do was show proper hospitality. While he sat on her bed, eating stale bread, she cooked up a generous meal and some fresh unleavened bread (1 Samuel 28:20–23).
In the morning, her guests would lose a terrible war. All she could do was feed them so they could fight to the end.
