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1 Samuel 4:2-4
New Catholic Bible
1 Samuel 4:2-4
New Catholic Bible
2 The Philistines drew up in battle line against the Israelites, and when they joined up in battle, the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield.
3 When the soldiers came back into camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has the Lord brought defeat upon us today at the hands of the Philistines? Let us go get the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh so that it can go out before us and save us from the hands of our enemies.”
The Ark Is Captured. 4 So the people sent to Shiloh to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned between the cherubim.[a] The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 4:4 Enthroned between the cherubim: in the Old Testament, cherubim, part human and part beast, are distinct from angels. The golden cherubim on the Ark cover the propitiation (Ex 25:10-22). The Israelites believed that God’s presence on the Ark would bring victory for Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, in battle.
