What Does 1 Samuel 28:11 Mean in the King James?
Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse describes a summons to the dead as an ascent, making “bring him up” a movement from below rather than merely a request for information.
THE MEANING
The request is for Samuel himself to rise from below into Saul’s reach, not simply for a report about him. The woman’s question and Saul’s command keep the movement upward at the center of this unsettling encounter.
THE ROOT
הַעֲלֵה
haʿaleh
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿalah
Go up, ascend, rise.
The woman’s question and Saul’s command both use this root in a form meaning “cause to rise”: the request is explicitly upward, from below into Saul’s presence. The same word family includes an עֹלָה (ʿolah), an offering that goes up, and a מַעֲלָה (maʿalah), an ascent or step, forms that keep the root’s upward motion audible beneath “bring up.”
ALSO GROWS
ʿolah: An ascent offering, traditionally rendered “burnt offering.”
עֹלָה
Its name comes from the same root for going up, echoing the upward movement expressed by “bring up.”
maʿalah: An ascent, step, or degree.
מַעֲלָה
This branch makes the root’s basic motion concrete: a rising or step upward.
THE PATTERN
The root עלה pictures movement across a boundary as upward ascent from the earth toward another realm.
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.THE THREAD
And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.The next verse uses the same root for what the woman says she sees: Samuel’s requested “bringing up” becomes “ascending out of the earth.” This makes the upward direction of Saul’s command explicit within the scene.
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