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11 The ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.

Eli Dies

12 On that day[a] a Benjaminite ran from the battle lines and came to Shiloh. His clothes were torn, and dirt was on his head. 13 When he arrived in Shiloh, Eli was sitting in his chair on the lookout[b] by the side of[c] the road, for he was very worried[d] about the ark of God. As the man entered the city to give his report,[e] the whole city cried out.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 4:12 tn Or perhaps, “the same day.” On this use of the demonstrative pronoun see Joüon 2:532 §143.f.
  2. 1 Samuel 4:13 tn The Qal of this verb, צָפָה (tsafah), means “to look.” (The more common word for “to see” is רָאָה, raʾah). Here the ptc. is Piel, which means “to be on the lookout for, look” (HALOT 1045 s.v. I צָפָה). Since we are told later that Eli could not see (which may mean that his eyesight was poor), the important part of using this verb is that Eli positioned himself to get the news as soon as it arrived.
  3. 1 Samuel 4:13 tc Read with many medieval Hebrew mss, the Qere, and much versional evidence יַד (yad, “hand”) rather than MT יַךְ (yakh).
  4. 1 Samuel 4:13 tn Heb “his heart was trembling.”
  5. 1 Samuel 4:13 tn Heb “and the man came to report in the city.”