⁷ And when the inhabitants of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is heavy on us and on our god Dagon.”

The Exodus: From Rameses to Succoth

³³ The Egyptians urged the people to hasten their departure from the land, for they said, “We shall all be dead.”^(A)

²⁵ The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: See, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him.^(A)

¹³ Because you did not carry it^[a] the first time,^[b] the Lord our God burst out against us because we did not give it proper care.”^(A)

¹¹ David was angry because the Lord had burst out against Uzzah, so that place is called Perez-uzzah^[a] to this day. ¹² David was afraid of God that day; he said, “How can I bring the ark of God into my care?” ¹³ So David did not take the ark into his care into the city of David; he took it instead to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

⁹ David was afraid of the Lord that day; he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come into my care?”

²⁰ Then the people of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom shall he go so that we may be rid of him?”^(A)

³ When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.^{(A) 4} But when they rose early on the next morning, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off upon the threshold; only the trunk of^[a] Dagon was left to him.^(B)

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.