The Philistines and the Ark

5 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod;^(A)

⁶⁸ But Judas turned aside to Azotus in the land of the Philistines; he tore down their altars, and the carved images of their gods he burned with fire; he plundered the towns and returned to the land of Judah.^(A)

⁷⁷ When Apollonius heard of it, he mustered three thousand cavalry and a large army and went to Azotus as though he were going farther. At the same time he advanced into the plain, for he had a large troop of cavalry and put confidence in it.^(A)

⁷⁸ Jonathan^[a] pursued him to Azotus, and the armies engaged in battle.^(A)

⁴ When he^[a] approached Azotus, they showed him the burnt-out temple of Dagon, and Azotus and its suburbs destroyed, and the corpses lying about, and the charred bodies of those whom Jonathan^[b] had burned in the war, for they had piled them in heaps along his route.^(A)