²⁶ that on that day ^(A)one who escapes will come to you to let you hear it with your ears?

¹⁵ when the ^[a]Sabeans ^[b]raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and ^[c]consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁸ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ^(A)“Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹ and suddenly a great wind came from ^[d]across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

The Fall of Jerusalem

²¹ And it came to pass in the twelfth year ^(A)of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, ^(B)that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, ^(C)“The city has been ^[a]captured!”

²² Now ^(D)the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the man came who had escaped. And He had ^(E)opened my mouth; so when he came to me in the morning, my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

Death of Eli

¹² Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and ^(A)came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and ^(B)dirt on his head. ¹³ Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on ^(C)a seat ^[a]by the wayside watching, for his heart ^[b]trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out. ¹⁴ When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the sound of this tumult mean?” And the man came quickly and told Eli. ¹⁵ Eli was ninety-eight years old, and ^(D)his eyes were so ^[c]dim that he could not see.

¹⁶ Then the man said to Eli, “I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line.”

And he said, ^(E)“What happened, my son?”

¹⁷ So the messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured.”

¹⁸ Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.