So they called all the Philistine rulers together(A) and asked, “What should we do with the ark of Israel’s God?”

“The ark of Israel’s God should be moved to Gath,” they replied. So they moved the ark of Israel’s God. After they had moved it, the Lord’s hand was against the city of Gath,(B) causing a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, from the youngest to the oldest, with an outbreak of tumors.(C)

10 The people of Gath then sent the ark of God to Ekron, but when it got there, the Ekronites cried out, “They’ve moved the ark of Israel’s God to us to kill us and our people!” [a]

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Footnotes

  1. 5:10 DSS, LXX read “Why have you moved... people?”

So they called together all the rulers(A) of the Philistines and asked them, “What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?”

They answered, “Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath.(B)” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.

But after they had moved it, the Lord’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic.(C) He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.[a] 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.(D)

As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 5:9 Or with tumors in the groin (see Septuagint)