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. 3 And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do creturn unto the Lord with all your hearts, then dput away the strange gods and eAshtaroth from among you, and fprepare your hearts unto the Lord, and gserve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. 4 Then the children of Israel did put away eBaalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only. 5 And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to hMizpeh, and iI will pray for you unto the Lord. 6 And they gathered together to Mizpeh, kand drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and lfasted on that day, and said there, mWe have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh. 7 And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, †nCease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. 9 And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord: and oSamuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord ||heard him. 10 And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord pthundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and qdiscomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car. 12 Then Samuel took ra stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it ||Eben-ezer, saying, sHitherto hath the Lord helped us. 13 tSo the Philistines were subdued, and uthey came no more into the coast of Israel: and wthe hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from xEkron even unto yGath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the zAmorites. 15 And Samuel ajudged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went from year to year †in circuit to bBeth-el, and cGilgal, and dMizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. 17 And his return was to eRamah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he fbuilt an altar unto the Lord.

8 *And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he amade his bsons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn was ||Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in cBeer-sheba. 3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside dafter lucre, and etook bribes, and perverted judgment. 4 *Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto fRamah, 5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now gmake us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6 But the thing †displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. 7 And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for hthey have not rejected thee, but ithey have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of …