1 Samuel 5:3-10

New American Standard Bible 1995

³ When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, ^(A)Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and ^(B)set him in his place again. ⁴ But when they arose early the next morning, behold, ^(C)Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; ^[a]only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. ⁵ Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor all who enter Dagon’s house ^(D)tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

⁶ Now ^(E)the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites, and ^(F)He ravaged them and smote them with ^(G)tumors, both Ashdod and its territories. ⁷ When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.” ⁸ So they sent and ^(H)gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they said, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” And they brought the ark of the God of Israel around. ⁹ After they had brought it around, ^(I)the hand of the Lord was against the city with very great confusion; and He smote the men of the city, both young and old, so that ^(J)tumors broke out on them. ¹⁰ So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as the ark of God came to Ekron the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to ^[b]us, to kill ^[c]us and ^[d]our people.”