And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from aEben-ezer unto bAshdod. 2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of cDagon, and set it by Dagon. 3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was dfallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. 4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and ethe head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only ||the stump of Dagon was left to him. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the fthreshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day. 6 But gthe hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he hdestroyed them, and smote them with iemerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god. 8 They sent therefore and gathered all the jlords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto kGath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither. 9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, lthe hand of the Lord was against the city mwith a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. 10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to nEkron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to nEkron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to †us, to slay us and our people. 11 So they sent and gathered together all the jlords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay †us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; othe hand of God was very heavy there. 12 And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

6 *And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the adiviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. 3 And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not bempty; but in any wise return him ca trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall dbe known to you why his hand is not removed from you. 4 Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden emice, faccording to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on †you all, and on your lords. 5 Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that gmar the land; and ye shall hgive glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will ilighten his hand from off you, and from off jyour gods, and from off your land. 6 Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, kas the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought ||wonderfully among them, ldid they not let †the people go, and they departed? 7 Now therefore make ma new cart, and take two milch kine, non which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: 8 And take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart; and put othe jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go. 9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to pBeth-shemesh, then ||he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then qwe shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.

10 And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: 11 And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. 12 And the kine took the straight way to the way of pBeth-shemesh, and went along the rhighway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh. 13 And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the Lord. 15 And the sLevites took down the ark of the Lord, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the Lord. 16 And when tthe five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to uEkron the same day. 17 And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the Lord; for vAshdod one, for wGaza one, for xAskelon one, for yGath one, for uEkron one; 18 And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of zcountry villages, even unto the ||great stone of aAbel, whereon they set down the ark of the Lord: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth-shemite.

19 And bhe smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people alamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. 20 And the men of Beth-shemesh said, cWho is able to stand before this dholy Lord God? and to whom shall he go up from us? 21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of eKirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.

7 And the men of aKirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of bAbinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord.

2 *And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.