1 Samuel 4–7

4^*And the word of Samuel ^||came to all Israel.

Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside ^aEben-ezer: and the Philistines pitched in ^bAphek. ²And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when ^†they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of ^†the army in the field about four thousand men. ³And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to day before the Philistines? ^cLet us ^†fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of ^dShiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. ⁴So the people sent to ^dShiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, ^ewhich dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. ⁵And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel ^fshouted with a great shout, so that the earth ^grang again. ⁶And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. ⁷And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing ^†heretofore. ⁸Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. ^9hBe strong, and ^†quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, ⁱas they have been to you: ^†quit yourselves like men, and fight. ¹⁰And the Philistines fought, and ^jIsrael was smitten, and ^kthey fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. ¹¹And ^lthe ark of God was taken; and ^mthe two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, ^†were slain.

¹²And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to ^dShiloh the same day ⁿwith his clothes rent, and ^owith earth upon his head. ¹³And when he came, lo, Eli sat ^pupon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. ¹⁴And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli. ¹⁵Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and ^qhis eyes ^†were dim, that he could not see. ¹⁶And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What ^†is there done, my son? ¹⁷And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. ^18*And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. ^||And he had judged Israel forty years.

¹⁹And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near ^||to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains ^†came upon her. ²⁰And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, ^rFear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, ^†neither did she regard it. ²¹And she named the child ^||sI-chabod, saying, The ^tglory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. ²²And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.

5And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from ^aEben-ezer unto ^bAshdod. ²When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of ^cDagon, and set it by Dagon. ³And 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. ⁴And 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. ⁵Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the ^fthreshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day. ⁶But ^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. ⁷And 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. ⁸They 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. ⁹And 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. ¹⁰Therefore 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. ¹¹So 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. ¹²And 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. ²And 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. ³And 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. ⁴Then 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. ⁵Wherefore 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. ⁶Wherefore 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? ⁷Now 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: ⁸And 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. ⁹And 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.

¹⁰And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: ¹¹And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. ¹²And 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. ¹³And 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. ¹⁴And 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. ¹⁵And 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. ¹⁶And when ^tthe five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to ^uEkron the same day. ¹⁷And 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; ¹⁸And 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.

¹⁹And ^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. ²⁰And 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? ²¹And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of ^eKirjath-jearim, saying, The…