³ You have not yet taken the area from the Shihor River at the border of Egypt to Ekron in the north. That belongs to the Canaanites. You must still defeat the five Philistine leaders. They are at Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. You must also defeat the Avvites.

³ These are the nations: the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the people of Sidon and the Hivites. The Hivites lived in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

⁵ The kings of the Philistines went to Delilah. They said, “Try to find out what makes Samson so strong. Try to trick him into telling you. Find out how we could capture him and tie him up. Then we will be able to control him. If you do this, each one of us will give you 28 pounds of silver.”

³⁰ Samson said, “Let me die with these Philistines!” Then he pushed as hard as he could. And the temple fell on the kings and all the people in it. So Samson killed more of the Philistines when he died than when he was alive.

⁸ The people of Ashdod called all five Philistine kings together. They asked them, “What should we do with the Ark of the Covenant of the God of Israel?”

The rulers answered, “Move the Ark of the Covenant of the God of Israel to Gath.” So the Philistines moved it to Gath.

¹¹ The people of Ekron called all the kings of the Philistines together. They said to the kings, “Send the Ark of the Covenant of the God of Israel back to its place. Do it before it kills us and our people!” They were very afraid. God’s punishment was very terrible there.

⁴ The Philistines asked, “What kind of penalty offering should we send to Israel’s God?”

The priests and magicians answered, “Make five gold models of the growths on your skin. Also make five gold models of rats. The number of models must be the same as the number of Philistine kings. This is because the same sickness has come on you and your kings.

¹² Then the cows went straight toward Beth Shemesh. They stayed on the road, mooing all the way. They did not turn right or left. The Philistine kings followed the cows as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.