Since Saul had to pass through territory controlled by the Philistine army, he disguised himself and traveled at night. Putting on different clothing was at least a part of Saul’s disguise, so it may be misleading to use the conjunction and between the first two verbs in this verse. Contemporary English Version translates the meaning of the two together as follows: “Saul put on different clothing so nobody would recognize him.” In other languages the idea of disguising may have to be rendered by saying something like “fooled people by changing his appearance.”

The meaning of Divine for me by a spirit is clearly expressed in Revised English Bible: “Tell me my fortune by consulting the dead.”

Bring up: that is, from under the earth in Sheol, where the dead were believed to be. The verb form is causative, literally “cause to come up.” See verses 11 and 13.

Whomever I shall name to you: that is, “the person whose name I am about to say” or “the spirit of the person I will name.” In Hebrew thought, a person did not have a spirit. Rather the word often translated “spirit” refers to those aspects of a human being such as “sense,” “mind,” and “breath.” Perhaps a rendering such as “Call up the person [or, the man] I name” may be better than “call up the spirit of the man” if the “spirit” is understood as something other than the living person.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .