1 Samuel 28:3
ESV
Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land.
NIV
Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.
NASB
Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.
CSB
By this time Samuel had died, all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his city, and Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.
NLT
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.
KJV
Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.
NKJV
Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land.
What does 1 Samuel 28:3 mean?
Samuel had died some time ago. He had been buried in his own home city of Ramah, and all of Israel had gathered to officially mourn his passing (1 Samuel 25:1). Under the Lord's direction, Samuel had anointed both Saul and David to be the first two kings of Israel. He had served as a kind of mentor to them both.Saul had explicitly outlawed all the necromancers and mediums from working within Israel. The law of Moses clearly forbade the Israelites from participating in this common practice. The basic idea of these occultists was attempting to contact those who had died:
"When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord" (Deuteronomy 18:9–12).
Despite this clear command and God's statement that such practices were the among the reasons to drive out the people from the land (Deuteronomy 18:12), the Israelites still dabbled in magic (Isaiah 8:19; 29:4; 1 Kings 21:6). Despite Saul's own earlier commitment to remove those who claim to communicate with the dead from Israel, he will seek one out in hopes of having one last conversation with Samuel (1 Samuel 28:7–19).
