1 Samuel 4:10-6:1

Darby Translation

¹⁰ And the Philistines fought, and Israel was routed, and they fled every man to his tent; and there was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.

¹¹ And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

¹² And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the battle, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes rent and with earth upon his head.

¹³ And when he came, behold, Eli was sitting upon the seat by the way-side watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out.

¹⁴ And Eli heard the noise of the crying, and said, What is the noise of this tumult? And the man came hastily, and told Eli.

¹⁵ Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set, that he could not see.

¹⁶ And the man said to Eli, I am he that came out of the battle, and I have fled to-day out of the battle. And he said, What has taken place, my son?

¹⁷ And the messenger answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.

¹⁸ And it came to pass, when he mentioned the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died; for the man was old, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹ And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered; and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.

²⁰ And as she was dying, the women that stood by her said, Fear not; for thou hast borne a son. But she did not answer, neither did she take it to heart.

²¹ And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel; because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband.

²² And she said, The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.

5 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod.

² And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.

³ And when they of Ashdod arose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.

⁴ And when they arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the fish-stump was left to him.

⁵ Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any that come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

⁶ And the hand of Jehovah was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he laid them waste, and smote them with hemorrhoids,—Ashdod and its borders.

⁷ And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us; for his hand is severe upon us, and upon Dagon our god.

⁸ And they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they said, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about to Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about [thither].

⁹ And it came to pass that, after they had carried it about, the hand of Jehovah was against the city with very great panic; and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and hemorrhoids broke out upon them.

¹⁰ And they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, when the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people.

¹¹ And they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, that it kill us not, and our people. For there was deadly alarm throughout the city: the hand of God was very heavy there;

¹² and the men that died not were smitten with the hemorrhoids; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

6 And the ark of Jehovah was in the country of the Philistines seven months.