1 Samuel 4:12-22

Common English Bible

¹² That very day, a Benjaminite ran from the battle to Shiloh. His clothes were torn, and dirt was on his head. ¹³ When he got there, Eli was sitting in a chair beside the road, waiting because he was nervous about God’s chest. The man arrived and gave the news to the city, and the whole city cried out.

¹⁴ Eli heard the sound of the cry and said, “What’s all this noise about?”

The man hurriedly went and told Eli the news. (¹⁵ Now Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes stared straight ahead, unable to see.) ¹⁶ The man told Eli, “I’m the one who just came from the battle. I fled from the battle today.”

“What’s the report, my son?” Eli asked.

¹⁷ The messenger answered, “Israel has fled from the Philistines. The army has suffered a massive defeat. Also, your own two sons Hophni and Phinehas have died, and God’s chest has been taken!” ¹⁸ At the mention of God’s chest, Eli fell backward off the chair beside the gate. His neck broke, and he died because he was an old man and overweight. Eli had judged Israel for forty years.

¹⁹ Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news that God’s chest had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she doubled over and gave birth because her labor pains overwhelmed her. ²⁰ As she was about to die, the women standing by helping her said, “Don’t be afraid. You’ve given birth to a son!” But she didn’t answer or pay them any attention. ²¹ She named the boy Ichabod,^[a] saying, “The glory has left Israel,” referring to the capture of God’s chest and the death of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² “The glory has left Israel because God’s chest has been taken,” she said.