⁶The Lord dealt harshly with the people of Ashdod. He destroyed them by striking the people in the vicinity of Ashdod with tumors. ⁷When the people of Ashdod realized what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us, because their God is dealing harshly with us and our god Dagon.” ⁸The people of Ashdod called together all the Philistine rulers. “What should we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” they asked.

“The ark of the God of Israel must be taken to Gath,” the rulers said.^bSo the people took the ark of the God of Israel there.

⁹But after they had moved it,^cthe Lord threw the city into a great panic: He struck all the important and unimportant people in the city, and they were covered with tumors. ¹⁰So the people of Gath sent the ark of God to Ekron. But when the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They brought the ark of the God of Israel here to kill us.” ¹¹They called together all the Philistine rulers. “Send the ark of the God of Israel away,” they said. “Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us or our people.” There was a fear of death throughout the city, where God dealt ⸤with them⸥ very harshly.

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Footnotes

b 5:8 Dead Sea Scrolls, Greek read “The citizens of Gath said, ‘Let the ark of God be brought to us.
c 5:9 Dead Sea Scrolls add “to Gath.”