Philistines Take the Ark in Victory

4 So the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle, and they camped beside ^(A)Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped in ^(B)Aphek. ² Then the Philistines drew up in battle formation to meet Israel. When the battle ^[a]spread, Israel was ^[b]defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. ³ When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “^(C)Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? ^(D)Let’s take the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, so that He may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” ⁴ So the people sent men to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord of armies ^(E)who is enthroned above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵ And as the ark of the covenant of the Lord was coming into the camp, ^(F)all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded. ⁶ And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. ⁷ So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp!” And they said, “^(G)Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. ⁸ Woe to us! Who will save us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. ^9 (H)Take courage and be men, Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews, ^(I)as they have been slaves to you; so be men and fight!”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought and ^(J)Israel was defeated, and ^(K)every man fled to his tent; and the defeat was very great, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. ¹¹ Moreover, the ark of God was taken; and ^(L)the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.