¹⁷ The messenger replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter^[a] among the troops; your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

²³ Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall pine away in your iniquities and groan to one another.^(A)

¹¹ The ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.^(A)

¹⁸ Then the king said to Doeg, “You, Doeg, turn and attack the priests.” Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests; on that day he killed eighty-five who wore the linen ephod.^{(A) 19} Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, he put to the sword.

¹⁹ Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. When she heard the news that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth, for her labor pains overwhelmed her. ²⁰ As she was about to die, the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or give heed.^(A)

³³ The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep out his^[a] eyes and grieve his^[b] heart; all the members of your household shall die by the sword.^{[c] 34} The fate of your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day.^(A)