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Journey of a Passage

1 Samuel 28:13

"I saw gods ascending"

The medium says she sees elohim, with a plural verb, "rising from the earth." The Greek, Latin and KJV all say "gods." The question is what the word means here: a divine being, a spirit, or Samuel himself.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original SamuelUnknown (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Samuel
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 1 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Samuel

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint, 1 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    J'ai vu des dieux sortant de terre

    I saw gods coming out of the earth

    One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical edition.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Deos vidi ascendentes de terra

    "Gods."

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Samuel

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    אֱלֹהִים רָאִיתִי עֹלִים מִן־הָאָרֶץ

    elohim I saw rising (plural) from the earth

    Elohim with a plural participle.

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    I saw gods ascending out of the earth

    "Gods."

What changed, and why

Elohim can mean God, gods, or beings of the divine realm; the dead are called elohim in some ancient Semitic usage (compare Isaiah 8:19). Modern translations vary: "a god," "a divine being," "a spirit." This is a translation question, not a variant.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedAll the witnesses checked read "gods" (plural).

Sources

Related lessons

  • The Medium at En-dor →The Philistines gather at Shunem. Samuel is dead, and God does not answer Saul by dreams, Urim or prophets. Saul, who had expelled mediums, disguises himself and goes by night to a woman at En-dor who consults the dead. She sees "a god" rising from the earth: an old man in a robe. Samuel announces that tomorrow Saul and his sons will be with him. The woman feeds the broken king.
  • Investigation: Holy War, Prophecy and the Medium at En-dor →1 Samuel includes a command to annihilate Amalek, the execution of Agag, a royal massacre of priests, David's killing of whole communities to hide his deceptions, and a king consulting the dead. This investigation brings the questions together without softening them.