³ behold, ^(A)the hand of the Lord ^[a]will come with a very severe pestilence on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks.

⁶ Now ^(A)the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites, and ^(B)He ravaged them and smote them with ^(C)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 ^(D)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, ^(E)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 ^(F)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 ^[a]us, to kill ^[b]us and ^[c]our people.” ¹¹ They ^(G)sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, so that it will not kill ^[d]us and ^[e]our people.” For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; ^(H)the hand of God was very heavy there. ¹² And the men who did not die were smitten with tumors and ^(I)the cry of the city went up to heaven.

³¹ It is a ^(A)terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the ^(B)living God.