4:18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli 1 fell backward from his chair beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he 2 was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.
28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. 4 In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums 5 and magicians 6 from the land.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “the man.”
3 tn That is, Samuel.
4 tn Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”
5 tn The Hebrew term translated “mediums” actually refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits (see 2 Kgs 21:6). In v. 7 the witch of Endor is called the owner of a ritual pit. See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401. Here the term refers by metonymy to the owner of such a pit (see H. A. Hoffner, TDOT 1:133).
6 sn See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.