The Philistines Capture the Ark

4 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at ^(A)Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at ^(B)Aphek. ² The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. ³ And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here ^(C)from Shiloh, that it^[a] may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”

⁷ the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. ⁸ Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. ^9 (A)Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews ^(B)as they have been to you; be men and fight.”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought, ^(C)and Israel was defeated, ^(D)and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. ^11 (E)And the ark of God was captured, ^(F)and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

² Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside ^(A)Dagon. ³ And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, ^(B)Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. ⁴ But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, ^(C)and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.

^6 (A)The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with ^(B)tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. ⁷ And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” ⁸ So they sent and gathered together all ^(C)the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. ⁹ But after they had brought it around, ^(D)the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that ^(E)tumors broke out on them. ¹⁰ So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” ^11 (F)They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. ^(G)The hand of God was very heavy there.